LESS THAN MEETS THE EYE

The Iraq Study Group will unanimously recommend a troop pullout in Iraq – and Bush will ignore them

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30policy.html
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/30/44552/597
[Daniel Politi] Barring any unexpected revelations next week, it's pretty safe to say a common reaction might be: Is this it? And that is exactly the kind of reaction some commission members seem to have before the release, says the LAT. "I think expectations of our group are seriously overrated," former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, a commission member, said. The Pentagon and the White House are also creating their own reviews . . .

What a nice little summit. Maliki may have had real doubts about coming, since he had a threat from the Sadrists to pull out of his coalition if he did. To help “encourage” him, the Bush gang (leaked?) an internal memo saying they’re not sure Maliki has the spine to be a loyal partner in peace. To demonstrate his appreciation, Maliki blows off the start of the summit, but does eventually show up for a photo op with Bush. Substantively, who knows what was accomplished, except to raise even further suspicions that the interests of the US government and the interests of the Iraqi government may be moving further and further apart

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/30prexycnd.html
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq and King Abdullah II of Jordan cancelled a meeting with President Bush at the last minute today, against the backdrop of a radical Shiite cleric’s boycott of the Maliki government and the disclosure of a classified White House memo that was highly critical of Mr. Maliki. . .

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/30/bush.trip.ap/index.html
Jon Alterman, former special assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said the memo's doubts about al-Maliki "seemed calculated to steel his spine."

"This memo reads to me more like a memo to Prime Minister al-Maliki than to President Bush," said Alterman, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It has his entire to-do list as well as a list of what he'll get if he agrees."

http://www.slate.com/id/2154662/
[Daniel Politi] [N]one of the papers seems to look into exactly why it was leaked at such a convenient time, right before the president's trip. Did the White House want to send Maliki a message? And if so, did Maliki's abrupt cancellation mean the plan backfired?

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/jonathan_s_landay/16125320.htm
It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to implement most of the key ideas for quelling the Iraqi civil war that are outlined in a classified Nov. 8 memo to President Bush from National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, experts said Wednesday.

Trying to push anti-U.S. Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr out of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as the memo suggests, would be throwing gasoline on a fire. . .

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/93-11292006-748669.html
Lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Wednesday they have carried out their threat to suspend participation in Parliament and the government to protest Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush.

Commentary: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/iraq-prime-minister-cancels-dinner.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9185.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9193.html

Bush says he has complete confidence in Maliki (yeah, right)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30253152.htm
George W. Bush praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as the "right guy" for Iraq on Thursday . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/11/29/BL2006112900921.html
[Dan Froomkin] The memo describes a guy who talks a good game, but is ultimately clueless and incompetent -- and who has been lulled into believing that his rhetoric is true by a small circle of like-minded advisers.

That's Maliki. . .

The White House “explains”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30prexy.html
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq and King Abdullah II of Jordan abruptly backed out of a meeting with President Bush on Wednesday, leaving the White House scrambling to explain why a carefully planned summit meeting had suddenly been cut from two days to one.

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7891
MR. BARTLETT: The President is going to have a bilateral and dinner with the King of Jordan. Since the King of Jordan and Prime Minister Maliki had a bilateral themselves, earlier today, everybody believed that negated the purpose for the three of them to meet tonight, together, in a trilateral setting. So the plan, according to -- since they had such a good, productive bilateral discussion, was just for the President to deal with bilateral issues and other issues with the King this evening in a dinner setting, and then the meetings set for tomorrow will still take place as scheduled. . .

Q So the dinner is off, the three-way.

MR. BARTLETT: Right.

Q Well if Maliki -- he was never going to the dinner anyway, right? It was just supposed to be a meeting.

MR. BARTLETT: There was going to be a trilateral meeting, and then the dinner with the King. Now, since they already had a bilateral themselves, the King of Jordan and the Prime Minister, everybody felt, well, there's no reason for them to do a trilateral meeting beforehand, because matters had been discussed.

Q So the scheduled trilateral is scrapped.

MR. BARTLETT: Right.

Q But the dinner -- all three of them are still going to be at the dinner?

MR. BARTLETT: No. . . . The President will see Prime Minister Maliki in the morning. . .

Q No connection to the memo, whatsoever?

MR. BARTLETT: No. . .

Q The King and the Prime Minister had a meeting, but the Prime Minister hasn't seen the President since he got here, and the President changed his schedule to come here for this meeting.

MR. BARTLETT: The President requested the meeting. This was the President requesting the meeting with the Prime Minister. And the substantive meetings on Iraq -- look, they were not going to be doing a full detail discussion in a trilateral setting about Iraq and the future of Iraq and the strategy anyway, that just wouldn't be appropriate. So it was going to be more of a social meeting anyways. But the fact that they had already had a good meeting together, felt like it negated the purpose to doing so. . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/that-dinner-of-bushs-that-iraqi-prime.html
[John Aravosis] According to the Associated Press, that little "casual dinner" with George Bush, as the White House is calling it, that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki is blowing off tonight, well it wasn't just a dinner, it was a "high-stakes summit". . .

And Reuters is calling it "a crisis meeting." . . .

[NB: But, but. . . Dan Bartlett says it was canceled because things were going so WELL that it wasn’t necessary. He wouldn’t lie to us about that, would he?

Actually, Bush was told the meeting was off BEFORE HE EVEN ARRIVED in Jordan, and the press let Bartlett get away with a real howler. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30prexy.html
The president and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were already aboard Air Force One, on the way to Amman from Riga, Latvia, where they had been attending a NATO summit meeting, when they received the news by telephone . . . ]

Needless to say, this was not the triumphant press coverage they were hoping for

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/bush-team-wanted-massive-press.html



What game is Colin Powell playing?

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/29/powell-civil-war/
Speaking with CNN reporter Hala Gorani in Dubai today, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq’s violence meets the standard of a civil war and thinks President Bush needs to acknowledge that. According to Gorani’s report, Powell said if he were heading the State Department right now, he would recommend that the Bush administration adopt that language “in order to come to terms with the reality on the ground.”

Ditto Newt Gingrich?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/29/gingrich_calls_iraq_war_a_failure/
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told a New Hampshire audience yesterday that unless the Bush administration admits that the war in Iraq is a "failure," it will never develop a strategy to leave the country successfully. . .

Ditto ditto Tom Friedman?

http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/11/post_435.html#014663
Given this, we need to face our real choices in Iraq, which are: 10 months or 10 years. Either we just get out of Iraq in a phased withdrawal over 10 months, and try to stabilize it some other way, or we accept the fact that the only way it will not be a failed state is if we start over and rebuild it from the ground up, which would take 10 years. This would require reinvading Iraq, with at least 150,000 more troops, crushing the Sunni and Shiite militias, controlling borders, and building Iraq's institutions and political culture from scratch. . . If we're not ready to do what is necessary to crush the dark forces in Iraq and properly rebuild it, then we need to leave -- because to just keep stumbling along as we have been makes no sense.

[Greg Sargent] Putting aside the absurdly arbitrary nature of these numbers, here's the question: If President Bush says no go to an increase in troops, or if the increase is substantially less than the 150,000 that Friedman says are "necessary," will his following column call outright for withdrawal?

Eleven countries, including Britain, knew about Bush’s secret prisons and rendition flights

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/30/44552/597

More and more base Pentagon spending is being packaged into “emergency supplemental bills” for the war on terror. Let’s hope that with the Democrats in charge we start getting more honest budget numbers

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-warcosts29nov29,1,940956,full.story

The Senate Intelligence Committee is going to be an interesting place, as they start investigating and disclosing the things that Pat Roberts (R-KS) spent his entire term as chair trying to cover up. And where will Roberts be when this happens?

http://kcbuzzblog.typepad.com/kcbuzzblog/2006/11/roberts_off_int.html

Bad move

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901317.html
It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement all of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that examined the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But with control of Congress now secured, Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation's intelligence agencies. Instead, Democratic leaders may create a panel to look at the issue and produce recommendations, according to congressional aides and lawmakers. . .

When I called Bush a “pissy little jerk” yesterday over his confrontation with Jim Webb, whose son is serving in Iraq, maybe I was being too kind

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116481360729619200
[Tristero] I want to focus entirely on the unspeakable callousness Bush displayed here.

Folks, political enemy or friend, that is no way - ever- for anyone to talk to the father of a kid who's in a combat zone.

This is the same man who reminisced about his hell-raisin' during a speech at the worst natural disaster in American history. This is the same man who, when, asked to name his greatest achievement while president, "joked" that it was when he caught a large fish in his fake pond on his Crawford estate - sorry, ranch. This is the same man who, when informed that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center in less than 10 minutes, sat reading "My Pet Goat" in a children's classroom. This is the same man who, in front of a supporter who he assumed wouldn't report it, mockingly imitated a woman about to be executed in his state.

Voting machines in the Florida 13th district are tested, found to be faulty (“human error,” the state says - uh-huh). The new Democratic House could void the results and order a new election. I think they should: major vote discrepancies like this shouldn’t just be relegated to the category of “s—t happens,” and until states start paying a price they aren’t going to get serious about reforming a system that people are rapidly losing faith in

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/29/121354/17
[NB: In one precinct, a 24% undervote rate!!]

More: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002051.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/29/14235/455
[Chris Bowers] There is, however, a way that Democrats can solve this problem without the need for further lawsuits or recounts. Considering how close the election was, how flawed the voting was because of the machine error, and that the voting problems caused the result of the election to flip sides, the only just solution is for a new election in FL-13. After January 4th, House Democrats will have that power. . .

Clever analysis: why do Republicans have such a problem with basic democratic institutions and practices?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2006/11/the_gop_agenda_permanent_constitutional_crisis.php

The kind of people they are: it turns out that Barack Obama (rhymes with “Osama”) has the middle name of “Hussein” too. So this is the stuff of which Republican campaigns against him will be run

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/nov/29/new_gop_attack_on_obama_his_name_is_hussein

What kind of twisted world view generates THIS? (thanks to Mary A. for the link)

http://stayathomepundit.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-do-abortions-have-to-do-with.html
Abortion procedures have caused a decrease in the number of U.S. residents, leading to a shortage of workers in the country and an increase in immigration of undocumented immigrants, according to report drafted by the Missouri Special Committee on Immigration Reform . . . The report was dated Oct. 24 and signed by all 10 Republicans on the committee, but it was not signed by any of the six Democrats on the panel. It says that the "lack of traditional work ethic, combined with the effects of 30 years of abortion and expanding liberal social welfare policies have produced a shortage of workers and a lack of incentive for those who can work." . . .

Update on an earlier story: Colorado family WILL be allowed to display a “peace wreath” for Christmas, without being fined

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5177400,00.html

Bonus item: Heh-heh

http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1694
Gun Guy Robbed at Gun Show
Finally today, clear proof that firearms simply don’t protect anything. They don’t prevent crime, and even with training and experience, when it happens, they don’t stop it. . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:19 AM

 
THE KIND OF PEOPLE THEY ARE

Pissy little jerk, isn’t he?

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/UndertheDome/112906.html
At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. . .

[NB: How hard would it have been for Bush to say, “I hope so too,” or “As soon as possible, Jim”?]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/28/205621/02
[Kos] [I]t's good Webb didn't slug Bush. Democrats will get back at him by making 2007 and 2008 the most miserable two years of his life.

More details: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801582.html

“Stay the course” means stay the course

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15910652/
“There is one thing I’m not going to do. I am not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete,” Bush said in a keynote speech . . .

“No question it’s tough, no question about it,” Bush said . . . “There’s a lot of sectarian violence taking place, fomented in my opinion because of the attacks by al-Qaida causing people to seek reprisal.”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_26.php#011304
[Josh Marshall] Okay, not that it's a surprise. But let's just stipulate for the record that the election results earlier this month didn't mean jack to the president when it comes to Iraq. Here's a story in the Times with the president not only blaming everyone but himself for the disaster he's created in Iraq . . .

The Times piece does a pretty good job explaining how everyone in the military and intelligence circles now agrees that 'al Qaida' (whatever that means in Iraq exactly) is not the real issue in what's happening. But to the president, it's still us versus al Qaida. Possibly with outside support from Dr. Evil and KAOS. I really never thought this country could be run for a significant period of time by a president who seems captive of dingbat conspiracy theories and the strategic complexity of a children's bedtime story. . .

“Fresh thinking”: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_re_eu/bush
President Bush will ask the embattled Iraqi prime minister for ideas on how to train Iraqi forces faster so they can shoulder more responsibility for securing the nation . . .

Bush puts the screws to Maliki

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005252.html
[NYT] Specifically, the United States wants Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt to work to drive a wedge between the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, and the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army has been behind many of the Shiite reprisal attacks in Iraq, a senior administration official said. That would require getting the predominantly Sunni Arab nations to work to get moderate Sunni Iraqis to support Mr. Maliki, a Shiite. That would theoretically give Mr. Maliki the political strength necessary to take on Mr. Sadr’s Shiite militias.

[Laura Rozen] So one last bid at keeping the Sunnis in, at national reconciliation under Maliki, with presumably the implicit threat to Sunni allies being that if they don't help make it happen, the US can let things take their course, and let the Shiites create the facts on the ground and in the government that the Sunnis will not be able to deny. In return, the US promised renewed effort on the Israel-Palestinian front. The message to Maliki: sideline Sadr and rein in the Mahdi army, while the US focuses on the Sunni insurgency and al Qaeda. And if this doesn't work? What's Plan D?

Plan D?

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7880
Q Will the President talk to Maliki about U.S. troop withdrawal in any way?

MR. HADLEY: I don't -- U.S. troop withdrawal? I don't think so. I think what he will be talking about --

Q Will he talk about troop --

MR. HADLEY: -- what he will be talking about is what we need -- of the security challenges we face, what we need to do to meet those challenges. . . But we're not at the point where the President is going to be in a position to lay out a comprehensive plan at this point. The President is going to be listening to Maliki, giving Prime Minister Maliki some assurance that we're going to develop this way ahead -- that he and the Prime Minister are going to obviously develop this way ahead together.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9178.html
[Bush] “My questions to him will be: What do we need to do to succeed? What is your strategy in dealing with the sectarian violence? . . .

“I will ask him: What is required and what is your strategy to be a country which can govern itself and sustain itself? And it’s going to be an important meeting, and I’m looking forward to it.”

[Steve Benen] Let me get this straight. After nearly four years of war, and with conditions deteriorating by the day, Bush has given up on articulating his own vision for victory, and plans to ask Maliki if he has any ideas?

In other words, Bush says we’re stuck in Iraq and we’ll accept nothing less than victory. Asked how we achieve this victory, the president seemed to respond, “Beats me; let’s see what that Maliki guy has to say.” . . . [read on]

Why it won’t work: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29politics.html

Whoops!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29military.html
A classified memorandum by President Bush’s national security adviser expressed serious doubts about whether Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had the capacity to control the sectarian violence in Iraq . . .

The memo: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29mtext.html

Analysis: http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005254.html

Expect more of this: blaming the Iraqis for our failures

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801499_pf.html

Who said it?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9182.html
“‘Stay the course’ is gone. We’re going to try and devise some new strategies, hopefully with the President’s concurrence,” the senator said. “Our soldiers, sailors and airmen should not be in there, risking their lives, losing their lives to stop a Civil War.”

The New York Times joins the “civil war” club

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003439273

More: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=143747

WH web site: it’s not “civil war,” it’s “renewal in Iraq” (thanks to Josh Marshall for the link)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/

Leaving the bill for the next President

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010295.php
[Christina Larson] Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, tells me he's been trading emails with folks around town -- generals, colonels, Pentagon officials -- who have been looking carefully and analytically for the last two years at what it will cost to reconstitute the military after Iraq. In other words, the bill to bring Army and Navy battalions back to the status they were in before the invasion. That includes training, equipment, replacing Apache helicopters, humvees, tanks, rifles (we have burned them up in Iraq faster than life cycle projections), etc. The current estimate: $50 to $100 billion. "The next president will face a staggering bill," Wilkerson says, not even counting the costs of further efforts in Iraq.

Do you know who’s actually ON the Iraq Study Group?

http://www.usip.org/isg/members.html
It is led by co-chairs James A. Baker, III, the nation’s 61st Secretary of State and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The other members of the study group include: Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Edwin Meese III , Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson. . .

More: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1128-28.htm
[Andrew Bacevich] Neither do its ranks include any Iraq war veterans, family members of soldiers killed in Iraq, or anyone identified with the antiwar movement. None possesses specialized knowledge of Islam or the Middle East. . . [read on]

Good!

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2685935
A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague . . .

The Goofus Files

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7876
[Bush wants to base US tax policy on Estonia?] I appreciate the fact that you got a flat tax, you got a tax system that's transparent and simple. . . . And the interesting contribution that a country like Estonia is making is that, people shouldn't have to live under tyranny. We just did that; we don't like it.

A couple of days ago, I pointed out how Republicans blamed Democrats for the increase in Iraq violence leading up to the election by claiming that the insurgents wanted to help the Dems win. Since the violence has gotten even worse AFTER the election, I asked ironically how the Repubs would find a way to blame the Democrats (who haven’t even taken control yet) for THAT too. I was joking, but I shouldn’t have underestimated them

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9180.html

Newt Gingrich, behind the mask

http://masl.to/?V6691284E
[Manchester Union Leader] Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/28/194149/46
[SusanG] But there’s yet a further irony in the event. While real, live speech would be monitored if Gingrich were in charge, there’s one so-called “speech freedom” which Gingrich wants entirely unsupervised, unrestricted and de-regulated, according to the Boston Globe coverage of the same event:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that First Amendment rights need to be expanded and cited the elimination of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms as one solution.

Gingrich, a Republican, suggested allowing people to give any amount to any candidate as long as the donation is reported online within 24 hours. . .

Got that? Shut your mouth and let the rich and corporate donors open their wallets. It’s the American way.

If this isn’t one of the sickest perversions of the original intent of the First Amendment, I don’t know what is.

Was it Patrick Leahy (D-VT) who said about Arlen Specter (R-PA): he’s always there for you, except when you really need him?

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/next-two-years.html
[Glenn Greenwald] In an excellent new New Yorker article, Jeffrey Toobin documents how Arlen Specter lambasted the Military Commissions Act as a tyrannical, unconstitutional, profoundly unjust atrocity, only to then, like the good boy that he is, cast his vote in favor of it. After his habeas corpus amendment failed, "Specter, visibly angry, left the Senate chamber. He told reporters that he thought the habeas ban was 'patently unconstitutional' and vowed to vote against the detainee bill." The next day -- the next day -- he voted in favor of it. . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_26.php#011305
[Josh Marshall] You may have read today's AP story about how the government's civil liberties oversight panel was "impressed" with the privacy protections built into the president's warrantless wiretapping program.

Over at TPMmuckraker, Justin Rood has the rundown on why you should take that with a grain of salt. . . . http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002046.php

How the GOP handles your money: deeply in debt, they’re still asking for big donations AFTER losing the elections

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/28/125647/75

Ho, ho, ho. . . ha-ha . . . sorry, still laughing . . .

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002045.php
[Paul Kiel] When the White House nominated Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) to succeed Ken Mehlman as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, some wondered why they'd exchanged one man with a Jack Abramoff problem for another.

The RNC won't vote to approve Martinez until January. But we hear that new revelations about Martinez's ties to the now-imprisoned Abramoff are due to be released before that happens. If that happens, and it jeopardizes Martinez's bid to lead the GOP, the party could face some serious questions about why it can't seem to find a qualified, muck-free leader. . .

Theocracy watch: so much for their “Christian” values

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/28/152012/22
The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America, which has long served as a model for activism for the religious right, has stepped down, saying the group resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming. . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9181.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611290002

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/various-items.html
[Glenn Greenwald] Whenever you think that Bush followers cannot descend any lower into un-American authoritarianism, they always prove you wrong. Congressman-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, has said that he will take his oath of office on the Koran rather than the Bible, since -- as a Muslim -- he happens to believe in the Koran and not the Bible. Dennis Prager has a column (cheered on by various extremists) insisting that Ellison "not be allowed to do so," arguing that "if you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress":

What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.

Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible.

If you hadn't read that for yourself, wouldn't it be hard to believe that someone is actually arguing this? Prager is essentially asking: What has happened to America where now it seems that people can decide for themselves what books they will believe are holy? . . . [read on]

House Intel Committee: it won’t be Harman OR Hastings

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112800937.html

“Progressive realpolitik” – what do you think?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/28/194140/25
[Chris Bowers] I have a few things I need to do, and I think I am writing this post in order to procrastinate. Still, I thought it would be interesting to actually list the pragmatic rules that I feel progressive must follow in order to build a progressive governing coalition.

1. The Democratic Party is the primary vessel of the progressive coalition. It is impossible to enact real change without an electoral apparatus within your movement. In a two-party system, it is thus necessary to adopt one of the two parties as the electoral vessel of your coalition.

2. Within the coalition, intra-party democracy must always be adhered to. All party nominees must be determined by an elective primary open to all registered members of the party in the relevant district. The winner of the primary must always be supported by all members of the party apparatus, and all rank and file members should vote for the nominee (especially those who voted in the primary).

3. Party elections should be fair and open to all members of the party, and no one should ever be forced or muscled off of a ballot for a party office or nomination for public office.

4. There are no litmus tests to join the coalition. No one has to read or sign off on any document stating support for a particular policy. If someone wants to join, registering as a Democrat should be the only requirement.

5. Under no circumstances should any member of the party apparatus support any member of any opposing coalition, (in other words, any other political party).

6. Outside of issues relating to corruption, Democrats must never criticize each other in the same manner that Republicans criticize Democrats.

7. No Democrat should ever publicly call any Democrat unelectable, or publicly rank candidates based on perceived electability.

8. Don't expect the party to change on it's own. Be prepared and willing to change it yourself.

As Montana goes, so goes the nation? New law requires a paper record of all e-voting

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/26/news/state/29-law.txt

Bonus item: Arianna goes after Bush’s half-billion dollar presidential library plans (don’t miss it)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20061128/cm_huffpost/035003
Comedy writers and lovers of the absurd all across America have a bounce in their step today . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:02 AM

 
UNHINGED

This would be funny if it weren’t so sad – now the news media are making a point of ANNOUNCING that they are finally prepared to call Iraq a “civil war.” Next up: when they decide to start calling it a “defeat”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9167.html
“Beginning this morning, MSNBC will refer to the fighting in Iraq as a civil war — a phrase the White House continues to resist. But after careful thought, MSNBC and NBC News decided over the weekend, the terminology is appropriate, as armed militarized factions fight for their own political agendas. We’ll have a lot more on the situation in Iraq and the decision to use the phrase, civil war.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/11/27/BL2006112700491.html
[Dan Froomkin] The White House is howling in protest. . .

More: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003438845
But the main Washington Post story today continued to use "sectarian strife." A widely-published Reuters dispatch today adopted "sectarian conflict" and McClatchy in a report from Baghdad relied on "sectarian violence." Other papers declared that Iraq is on the verge of civil war, but has not gotten there yet, with an Associated Press story calling Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s visit to Iran an effort to prevent "Iraq’s sectarian violence from sliding into an all-out civil war.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701398.html
Civil War in Iraq Near, Annan Says . . .

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/we_lie_when_geo.html
[CHRIS] MATTHEWS: It seems to me the President's afraid that people will begin to think it is a civil war and not the way he wants to define it, which is we gotta fight them there before they fight us here.

[DANA] PRIEST: Well, I think one of the reasons the President resists that label is because it equates almost with a failure of U.S. policy. I will say for the Washington Post, we have not labeled it a civil war. . . We try to avoid the labels, particularly when the elected government itself does not call its situation a civil war. I certainly -- and I would agree with General McCaffrey on this -- absolutely the level of violence equals a civil war.

[NB: In other words, she believes it is a civil war, but if the WH says don’t call it that, fine with her]

It’s always about what you call it

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
President Bush intensified diplomatic efforts on Monday to quell rising violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, turning to allies as his national security adviser said the conflict in Iraq had entered "a new phase" . . .

The last word

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116468742441902755
[The Daily Show] Stewart: Certainly from an Iraqi perspective, what this is called makes no difference.

Oliver: Oh, really? If you have lost a loved one in this conflict, and statistically if you're an Iraqi you have, wouldn't you rather know it wasn't in a Civil War but rather a territorial arglebargle of regional qualms?

Stewart: 3,000 Iraqis died just this month. To argue over what to call it seems like semantic quibbling.

Oliver: Semantic quibbling? Oh, well, I wouldn't call it that.

Stewart: What would you call it?

Oliver: A minor linguistic flareup between two parties of different terminological points of view.

Stewart: It's really the same thing.

Oliver: It's "same-ey." For now let's agree to disagree on how we state our agreements. Agreed?

All you need to know about the Iraq Study Group (thanks to Atrios for the link)

http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2006/11/26/5634
[Jim Henley] Three quotes from the NYT account of the Iraq Study Group’s draft report, in reverse order because that’s the best way to tell the real story:

Administration officials appear to be taking steps that will enable them to declare that they are already implementing parts of the Baker-Hamilton report, even before its release.

This will be unsurprisingly easy.

Mr. Bush spent 90 minutes with commission members in a closed session at the White House two weeks ago “essentially arguing why we should embrace what amounts to a ‘stay the course’ strategy,” said one commission official who was present.

And did it have an effect, do you suppose?

“It’s not at all clear that we can reach consensus on the military questions,” one member of the commission said late last week.

The draft report, according to those who have seen it, seems to link American withdrawal to the performance of the Iraqi military, as President Bush has done. But details of the performance benchmarks, which were described as not specific, could not be obtained, and it is this section of the report that is most likely to be revised.

Your tax dollars at work, Loyal Readers. By the time the commission publishes a report it will have worked eight months coming up with a verbose, “centrist” way to say “Stay the course.”

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/27/65518/752

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9171.html

Worse and worse

http://www.slate.com/id/2154555
[Daniel Politi] The Post's lead also has some interesting nuggets of information thrown into the story. According to officials, Vice President Cheney was "basically summoned" by Saudi Arabia to discuss Iraq, and the trip was not the simple meeting of two allies, as was initially portrayed. The paper also talks to an intelligence official who says Sadr's Mahdi Army has grown quickly in the last year, and now has anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 members, which makes it more effective than the official Iraqi army. . . .

The Post fronts a Marine Corps intelligence report from August that says U.S. troops are no longer able to control the insurgency in Iraq's Anbar province. . . Sunnis in Anbar are constantly fearful for their lives, as al-Qaeda in Iraq basically runs the province.

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005248.html
[WP] "... In a sign of the discord in Washington, the senior U.S. intelligence official said the situation requires that the administration abandon its long-held goal of national reconciliation and instead 'pick a winner' in Iraq. He said he understands that means the Sunnis are likely to bolt from the fragile government. 'That's the price you're going to have to pay,' he said." . . .

Washington will likely be pressing Maliki to dump Sadr in favor of Hakim. McClatchy piece asks whether what the US does this week really matters. "We're not in control any longer," military analyst Andrew Bacevich tells the paper.

[Former DIA analyst] Jeffrey White described the multi-layered violence in Iraq this way: "(The) Sunni insurgency remains one of the engines of this civil conflict, this civil war. And there is militia violence now. And you have coalition violence. You have major Sunni-on-Sunni violence in Anbar province. ... And you have criminal violence, widespread Shia-on-Shia violence in the South."

"The elements of violence and resistance and just the bloodymindedness are so embattled it requires something major and enduring (by the United States) or just get out," he said. . .

I’ve been chewing over this idea for a few days, and now here’s George Packer advocating much the same thing: maybe this is the best we can do

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010289.php

Bush keeps talking about a global network of terror – and sure enough, he has helped to create one

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/world/middleeast/28military.html
A senior American intelligence official said Monday that the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah had been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Iraqi Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr. . .

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1853704,00050001.htm
"We don't have solid evidence that Iran is helping Al-Qaeda in Iraq. They are helping the Al-Mahdi. They are helping some of the extremist Shia groups in Iraq. . .” Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowaffak al Rubaie said. . . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/presidencys-mortal-wound-and-rise-of.html
[CNN] [Iranian President] Ahmadi-Nejad's hand may in fact have never been stronger. With an ambitions nuclear program, the world's third largest oil reserves, a massive army and ballistic missile arsenal he's also gained huge popularity on the so called Arab street by supporting Hezbollah's recent fight against Israel. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_26.php#011297
[Josh Marshall] The truth or falsity of this new intel from the same sources of the reliably bogus intel of recent years, though, seems of secondary interest to the debate that's getting set up. It's a recipe and the argument for staying in Iraq permanently. We can't get out because getting out means coming to an accommodation with Iran and Syria who've already been meddling in Iraq.

If we're trying to overthrow the Iranian government -- which we've said we are -- is it greatly surprising that they're either having or allowing their proxies to help train the Iraqi militia which is helping pin us down in Iraq?

That doesn't mean it's good or bad, only that it's hardly unexpected. And it brings us back to the key question: what's our goal in Iraq. Not what it may or may not have been three years ago. But what is it right now? Is being in Iraq making us more or less secure? Do we want to stay there indefinitely or do we want to began the process of leaving in such a way as to leave as stable and safe a situation as possible? Those are the key questions. Letting a purported connection between Hezbollah and the Mahdi Army drive our thinking is just another way of saying we want to stay forever because if we don't Iran will have won.

The Times quotes former NSC official Flynt Leverett saying: “That sound to me a little bit strained. I have a hard time thinking it is a really significant piece of what we are seeing play out on the ground with the various Shiite militia forces.”

I think he has it just right.

The end of statecraft

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9170.html
[NB: A missing name in this otherwise sharp account: the feckless Condoleezza Rice, who was a lousy National Security Advisor and who has been an empty Chanel suit as Sect’y of State]

The Bush gang promises a tough and thorough investigation (uh-huh) of its domestic spying policies – carried out by their own guy at the DOJ

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002040.php

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/28/13217/233

Here’s what will happen when the Democrats in congress start to investigate the Bush gang

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/11/26/hail_to_the_chief/

What in the world has the news media seen in George Bush since the election to believe that he is actually prepared to compromise or moderate any of his policies?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9164.html

The silly season: more predictions that Cheney is quitting (no, no, and no)

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/27/crawford-on-cheney/

Newt Gingrich gives us the benefit of his careful, modulated thinking on what to do in Iraq. . .

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/nov/27/gingrich_column_discusses_victory_or_death_in_iraq
"Victory or death."

[NB: Let’s see. When Patrick Henry uttered his famous line, “Give me liberty or give me death,” it was HIS death he was willing to risk. Do you think Newt means the same thing?]

Rush Limbaugh utters much the same thing, but in this case he means, “Victory or death. . . for all those miserable rag heads”

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611280003
Rush Limbaugh said: "[W]ell, let's just have them. Let's just have the civil wars . . . because I'm just fed up with this." Limbaugh then asserted: "Fine, just blow the place up. Just let these natural forces take place over there instead of trying to stop them." Additionally, Limbaugh claimed: "[E]verbody comes to us. . . So we go and try to fix it and our own people, Democrats and the left in our country do their best to sabotage our efforts, and then we get blamed for trying to clean up the messes that these people start."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_26.php#011295
[Josh Marshall] I know we're supposed to get really outraged over this sort of thing and bent out of shape. But why exactly? These guys -- really the whole movement -- are so pitiful, such utterly pathetic whiners and fools, it's hard to treat them as anything but spoiled children.

They’re losing their minds (truly)

http://www.attytood.com/2006/11/whos_unhinged_now_1.html





When will the news media stop making excuses for John McCain’s flip-flops and lies?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/newsweek-we-like-mccain-because-he.html

Why people have a serious issue with Jane Harman as chair of the House Intelligence committee – and why the media’s adoration of her says more about their own need for self-justification than anything about her qualifications

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/medias-sudden-intense-interest-in.html

Looking for a third way: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010286.php

Joe Lieberman (D? - CT) is going to be costing the Democrats again and again once they take over

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116464512055206387
Roll Call (sub. req.) has a story about how Democratic Senate aides are rather unhappy with The Last Honest Man's hiring of McCain loyalist, "prodigious leaker" to the press, and extraordinarily silly person Marshall Wittmann. Basically, they know Wittmann's loyalties are elsewhere and he'll likely leak everything both to the press and to his Republican pals so they won't be able to actually talk when he's in the room. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/27/143654/40

Bad news: a follow-up from yesterday

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/washington/27cnd-leak.html
The United States Supreme Court refused today to stop a federal prosecutor from reviewing the telephone records of two reporters for The New York Times. The records, the paper said, include information about many of the reporters’ confidential sources.

In a one-sentence order offering no reasoning and noting no dissenting votes, the Supreme Court rejected a request from The Times to stay a lower court’s decision while the paper tried to persuade the high court to review the case. . .

Theocracy watch: what is “Christianism”?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116465712117498044

Compassionless conservatives

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Study_Americans_ambivalent_about_HIVAIDS_crisis_1127.html

Did the National Science Teachers Association (good guys) sell out? (thanks to Jon C for the link)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112400789.html
At hundreds of screenings this year of "An Inconvenient Truth," the first thing many viewers said after the lights came up was that every student in every school in the United States needed to see this movie. . . So the company that made the documentary decided to offer 50,000 free DVDs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) for educators to use in their classrooms. It seemed like a no-brainer.

The teachers had a different idea: Thanks but no thanks, they said.

In their e-mail rejection, they expressed concern that other "special interests" might ask to distribute materials, too; they said they didn't want to offer "political" endorsement of the film; and they saw "little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members" in accepting the free DVDs. . . .

Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would place "unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters." One of those supporters, it turns out, is the Exxon Mobil Corp. . .

The twins

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7870
Amid a growing barrage of front-page headlines, U.S. embassy officials "strongly suggested" President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, cut short their trip to Buenos Aires because of security issues, U.S. diplomatic and security sources tell ABC News.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/in-face-of-concerns-about-their-safety.html
[John Aravosis] I've defended these girls before because, well, they're (or they were) teenagers. And you know, teenagers like to go out drinking, and I get that. But at some point, you put aside your tiara as most powerful brat in the world and start acting like an adult. But not in the Bush family. Oh no. The US embassy warned that they could not provide adequate security for the Bush twins during their current visit, and the Bush twins basically told the embassy to go to hell. They're staying anyway.

http://masl.to/?B24B1164E
[Reuters] The U.S. Embassy in Argentina rejected reports that it had told President George W. Bush's twin daughters to leave the country after a widely publicized purse-snatching incident. . .

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/update_one_twin.html
ABC News has now learned First Daughter Barbara Bush left Argentina late Sunday night, after being urged to cut short a birthday vacation trip by U.S. embassy officials concerned about the security of the Bush twins after a week of intense media coverage.

Her sister Jenna, however, plans to remain . . .

George’s fancy-shmancy presidential library (half a billion dollars’ worth). Hey, the man just really enjoys spending other people’s money . . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9163.html

Hardly counts as news: another Republican backs out of his term-limits promise

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/27/115250/45
[Ric Keller (R-FL)] "As a rookie candidate, I underestimated the value of experience and seniority. I will not spend my entire career in Congress, but I will seek re-election in 2008," he said in a written statement. "There is unfinished business."

Katherine Harris (R-Disneyworld) hopes that the Democrat wins her old House seat so she can run for it again in ‘08

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002034.php

More: http://politicalinsider.com/2006/11/will_harris_make_a_comeback.html

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7865

No surprise that even the audit of the dubious Florida 13th district vote (18,000 mostly Democratic votes not counted) is being run by the Republicans

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002037.php

USA Today wakes up to the need for a paper receipt as a check on e-voting machines

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/floridas-voting-problems-are-national.html

Bonus item: Is there a better metaphor than this?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116464925701787490
[Atrios] When the history of this era is written, I hope it is remembered that the President of the United States created a deck of cards with "bad guys" on it. The media, rather than seeing this is a bizarre and infantile thing, thought it was wonderful. . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:51 AM

 
KABUKI DANCE

There is a growing recognition that US policy is no longer driving events in Iraq. TV pundits want to explore “what we can do” to improve the situation there, or “what the Democrats suggest” as an alternative to Bush policy. I don’t think any of that matters any more – whatever we do, the competing forces within Iraq, and the direct intervention of its neighbors, will do far more to determine future events. Asking what OUR solution should be assumes that there is a possible “solution” and that our choices are the determining factor now – both of which are fundamental errors. All that is in our control is how and when our troops leave: other matters will take their course more or less despite our efforts

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/26/124341/33
“The state has collapsed. . .”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26cnd-maliki.html
Just days before President Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq are to hold talks, Mr. Maliki said today that his country was in a “political crisis” . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/26/AR2006112600181.html
The motorcade of Iraq's prime minister was pelted with stones on Sunday by fellow Shi'ites in a Baghdad slum . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/26/AR2006112600309.html
King Abdullah of Jordan, who will host a meeting between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki this week, said today that the situation in Iraq is quickly disintegrating . . .

More: http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3608

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15889021/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26cnd-iraq.html

It’s worse than you think

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/cnns-john-roberts-what-americans-are.html
[John Aravosis] Bush, Rummy, Condi, Cheney, O'Reilly, Hannity and the rest of the pathetic Republican liars in Congress and beyond have repeatedly told the American people that Iraq is actually going much better than we see on TV. We see only see the bad stuff on TV, they tell us. The American media is liberal and biased, they refuse to tell Americans how good things really are in Iraq. . .

CNN's John Roberts [says] What Americans are seeing on TV about Iraq "is being sanitized" - it's WORSE than we see on TV . . .

Over here, complete chaos reigns too

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7863
[Athenae] Things will be horrible if we leave. The answer to that last is always, unequivocably yes, yes, it will. Iraq will continue to be chaos, civil war, a breeding ground for hatred of America and a place of misery for those who live there. . . . It's time to stop dancing around that and just admit it. If we leave, it will be awful. For us, for them, for everyone.

BUT THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO TO STOP IT ANYMORE.

We lost this war three weeks after the invasion . . .

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/bakerhamilton_1/
[Matt Yglesias] The more I read about this [Baker/Hamilton] commission the less I like it. The news that the commission deliberate excluded "extreme" views even though the "extreme" left view has majority support is pretty maddening. The real problem, though, is that as best I can tell the Commission has the wrong mandate. Rather than a group charged with finding an optimal Iraq policy for the United States of America, it's charged with finding a formula that suits the interests of the American political establishment -- of Democrats who backed the war, and of Republicans who'd like to see their political party survive the disaster of George W. Bush. So while they'd like a policy that makes things better, what they need is a policy that can espoused while minimizing embarrassment to said establishment. Unfortunately, the latter goal makes the former substantially impossible.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/26/brzezinski-baker/
Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski issued a strong, preemptive criticism of the Baker Commission studying alternatives for Iraq. Brzezinski said that while the commission “will probably come out with some sound advice on dealing with the neighborhood,” it essentially “will offer some procrastination ideas for dealing with the crisis.”

Brzezinski added that “This is a mistaken, absolutely historically wrong undertaking. The costs are prohibitive. If we get out sooner, there will be a messy follow-up after we leave. It will be messy, but will not be as messy as if we stay.” . . .

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1562949,00.html
The conditions on the ground in Iraq are deteriorating so rapidly that even the Baker commission is struggling to keep up. . . Although Baker has said the commission will develop its proposals by consensus, there were signs last week that the group had hit some speed bumps. Sources say renewed pressure from both political flanks in the U.S. is making it difficult for the commission's center to hold. Emboldened by their takeover of Congress, Democrats have sent unmistakable signals that they favor some movement, if not reduction, of forces at the earliest possible date. Meanwhile, present and former government officials say Vice President Cheney intends to oppose any proposal that would make regional talks with Iran or Syria a key part of the U.S.'s Iraq strategy, even though Baker favors such an opening. As the commission broke for Thanksgiving, the partisan pincer movement was beginning to provoke some talk of stalemate. "The impulse toward consensus has diminished somewhat," a close panel observer told TIME. "Everything that is happening--the election, the postelection, the situation in Baghdad--makes it more difficult."

Baker and Hamilton held dozens of listening sessions this summer and fall, but members for the most part were careful not to stake out their positions. With a tentative mid-December deadline just a couple of weeks away, the decision-making process is just beginning. Commission members, said a close adviser, "are just now trying to make sense of what they heard, what the choices are and who stands where on those choices." While a Baker-led deal is still a good bet, several sources said, the odds that the commission will be unable to provide a clear user's guide for cleaning up Iraq are narrowing.

[NB: While Time tries hard to construct this as a bipartisan “pincer movement,” there is one and only one reason the commission is in trouble: the Bush gang has already made it clear that they aren’t interested in receiving its recommendations – in fact, they already have the Pentagon working on an alternative set of proposals: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/26/just-in-case/]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010284.php
[Kevin Drum] When push comes to shove, the commission members are going to have a hard time finding a consensus because (a) at least some of them will insist on an honest analysis, but (b) Baker will be unwilling to endorse a report that President Bush is likely to reject. . . It's just too hard for most of these guys to break ranks and admit in public that the fate of Iraq is no longer something we can control.

So the Kabuki dance continues.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/world/middleeast/27policy.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/27/45214/105

Another Republican calls for MORE troops (will this be the Pentagon "alternative"?)

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/another-republican-senator-endorses.html
[Joe] Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) endorsed the McCain plan to send more U.S. soldiers to Iraq. Cornyn wants an additional 20,000 - 50,000 additional troops to go to Iraq. Like McCain, he's delusional. But if more troops is what McCain and the GOP are pushing, so be it. . .

More calls for withdrawal from those who were damning the Democrats just a few weeks ago for talking about withdrawal

http://www.prospect.org/horsesmouth/2006/11/post_431.html#014626

Back home, the ongoing war has become invisible

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116460131882880385
[Bob Herbert] This indifference is widespread. It enables most Americans to go about their daily lives completely unconcerned about the atrocities resulting from a war being waged in their name. . .

The neo-con vision of remaking the Middle East has succeeded!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/26/AR2006112600309.html
Jordan's King Abdullah, who will host President Bush this week during emergency talks on Iraq, said yesterday that the Middle East faces the prospect of three simultaneous civil wars erupting. . .

Jonathan Chait (only partly joking): bring back Hussein!

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1126-26.htm

No joke: http://www.democracyforcalifornia.com/blog/archives/001901.html
'In Saddam's time I never saw a friend killed in front of my eyes. I never saw neighbours driven out of their homes just for their sect. And I never saw entire families being slaughtered and killed' . . .

Whither Bush?

http://www.slate.com/id/2154493/
[Daniel Politi] Some analysts urge Bush to be serious about working with Democrats, while others suggest he can still shape policy but must choose his battles carefully. . . . If the president chooses to continue pursuing a conservative agenda, he might not get anything approved by the new Congress, but if he compromises with Democrats he might anger his conservative base. . .

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2154255
[Jacob Weisberg] The conservative era in American politics, which has coincided with my entire adult lifetime, came to an end two weeks ago. . .

[NB: Not likely, but it’s nice to think so]

Where McCain actually stands on the issues (funny that it took so long for such an article to appear)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010282.php

More: http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/nov/26/straight_talk_about_straight_talk

Trent Lott is back in the Republican leadership, and he has some scores to settle with Karl Rove and the Bush White House

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/26/lott-rove-divide/

Police state watch

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611260341nov26,1,868028.story
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Saturday not to prevent a federal prosecutor from examining the telephone records of two reporters at The New York Times . . .

The dollar drops, and recession appears on the horizon

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1956925,00.html
The US dollar has reached a 'tipping point' as foreign exchange markets wake up to the threat that the Federal Reserve will have to slash interest rates in the new year to stave off recession, analysts say. . . .

More: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/the_dollar_look.html

Dems: just say NO to any Bush-initiated Social Security “reform”

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/defeat_from_the_jaws_of_victor/

More: http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/social_security.html

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116457446238819253

John Dingell (D-MI) plans several investigations before his committee

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061126/ap_on_go_co/democrats_congress
- The new Medicare drug benefit. "There are lots and lots and lots of scandals," he said. . . .

- Spending on government contractors in Iraq, including Halliburton Co., the Texas-based oil services conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney. . .

- An energy task force overseen by Cheney. It "was carefully cooked to provide only participation by oil companies and energy companies” . . .

- A review of food and drug safety, particularly in the area of nutritional supplements.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116457645351999957
[Tristero] The real issue is not going to be serving subpoenas. Oh, they'll serve them all right. Nor will the issue be whether or not the White House will obey them. They won't.

No, the real issue is what will happen when the White House refuses to respond to nearly any subpoenas. One thing is for sure: Bush and Cheney are prepared to bring down the US government rather than comply. What will Congress do then? And how far will Congress be willing to push?

Exit polls used to be the standard check against voting error or fraud – today, the results of exit polls are hidden, and then secretly corrected to FIT the actual vote totals after the fact, lest they cast doubts about the integrity of elections. Wonder why?

http://sideshow.me.uk/snov06.htm#11261759

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4196

http://uscountvotes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=41

If Bush is serious about bipartisanship and civility, here’s a simple first step he could take . . . but won’t (thanks to Avedon Carol for the link)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101223.html

Looks like Brent Wilkes, Duke Cunningham’s pal, is anticipating a defense conducted largely through the media (why else hire Mark Geragos?)

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/26/172615/28

More: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002032.php

Looking ahead to 2008, and the growing role of the progressive netroots

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/26/124710/62

Bonus item: Revising history

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116456811361334711
[Atrios] [I]f one goes to Mission Accomplished Day at Whitehouse.gov and then clicks on the video link there's something interesting.

Notice anything weird? The black bar at the bottom of the video?

They clipped off the top quarter of the video, and pushed the rest up, in order to hide the Mission Accomplished banner.

[NB: There is some dispute about the meaning of the black bar – but it misses the point, which is that the banner no longer appears in the video:
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_26_atrios_archive.html#116459362313487385]

Extra bonus item: “The divisive issue of peace”

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/27/14724/929

[NB: So, will they rewrite the divisive Christmas carol too: "Peace on earth, good will toward men"? http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/h/iheardtb.htm]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:00 AM

 
THE BEGINNING OF THE END?

As of today, the war in Iraq has lasted longer than the Second World War

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001800.php

In Iraq, the insurgency is stronger than ever – and self-sustaining

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/middleeast/26insurgency.html
The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent . . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011273
[David Kurtz] What makes the piece murky is no distinction is made between "insurgents," "terrorists," and other militant groups in Iraq. Maybe that's the approach of the secret report that the NYT piece is based on. But it would seem to me that lumping all of the various armed factions in Iraq into one category called "the insurgency" would be to miss many important differences in the goals and strategies--and the means of funding--of the many disparate groups currently operating in Iraq. . . The overwhelming impression I'm left with from the piece is that more than three and half years after ostensibly seizing control of Iraq, the U.S. government is still largely ignorant of the armed groups arrayed against its efforts there.

“An act of desperation”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112400203.html
The Bush administration charged yesterday that the escalating violence in Iraq committed by both Shiites and Sunnis over the past two days is a "brazen effort" to bring down the fragile government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The White House also said President Bush has no intention of backing out of talks next week with the Iraqi leader, despite threats yesterday from a powerful Shiite militia to pull out of the government if Maliki goes ahead with the meeting. The talks, set for Thursday in Amman, Jordan, have suddenly taken on the air of a crisis summit, as Iraq slides closer to all-out civil war. . .

"Iraq is breaking down, not breaking up" into pieces, said Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. . .

"This summit is an act of desperation. The White House doesn't know what it can do," said David Rothkopf, a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace fellow and the author of "Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power." "The situation is deteriorating more rapidly than anyone anticipated and to an unending depth.

"I don't think, in modern American history, there is another example of such egregious failure of policy and execution. We're really seeing something unprecedented here. Even Vietnam was a slower decline, and the military forces were more in balance. . . . I don't know anyone who thinks there is an outcome in Iraq now that is hopeful." . . . [take a deep breath, and read on]

The beginning of the end?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/25/234659/32
[DHinMI] [T]he McClatchy wire service is reporting that followers of Shiite radical Muqtada al-Sadr have taken over a radio station in Baghdad and are urging attacks on named Sunni leaders and neighborhoods. . .

This is as ominous a development as anything I recall since the invasion of Iraq. Losing control of the airwaves is a standard indicator that a government has completely lost control of the country. Without even the figleaf of civil authority, Baghdad will probably spin in to absolute chaos.

Even worse than the government losing control of the airwaves is the historical precedent. Many will recall that the Rwandan genocide began when Hutu radicals used state radio to call for the massacre of Tutsi and any Hutu who didn't support the massacre of the Tutsi.

This could be the beginning of a mass bloodletting in Baghdad, and the beginning of the end of a unified Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500253.html
In the aftermath of one of the deadliest spasms of violence, a new level of fear and foreboding has gripped Baghdad, fueled in part by sectarian text messages and Internet sites, deepening tensions in an already divided capital. . .

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/this-is-how-screwed-up-iraq-is.html

http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/tribalfundamentalist-violence.html

The mysterious Mr. Cheney

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2006/11/visit_or_not.html

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005237.html

More: http://masl.to/?O5591234E

More McCain double-talk: when you say the only solution is X, and that X is unlikely to happen, what is your next move?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_atrios_archive.html#116447216358745802
[NB: Isn’t this all a way for him to avoid saying, the war is lost and there are no good options any more?]

Here’s what a REAL straight shooter sounds like, John

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112401104.html
[Chuck Hagel, R-NE] There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq. These terms do not reflect the reality of what is going to happen there. The future of Iraq was always going to be determined by the Iraqis -- not the Americans.

Iraq is not a prize to be won or lost. It is part of the ongoing global struggle against instability, brutality, intolerance, extremism and terrorism. There will be no military victory or military solution for Iraq. Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger made this point last weekend.

The time for more U.S. troops in Iraq has passed. We do not have more troops to send and, even if we did, they would not bring a resolution to Iraq. Militaries are built to fight and win wars, not bind together failing nations. We are once again learning a very hard lesson in foreign affairs: America cannot impose a democracy on any nation -- regardless of our noble purpose.

We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam. Honorable intentions are not policies and plans. . .

More: http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/the_evertempting_chuck_hagel/

The neo-cons are worried about the overly “centrist” Baker-Hamilton commission

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/centrist-position-on-war-in-iraq.html

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500886_pf.html

Here’s Bush’s Next Big Problem

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec06/bd_11-24.html
JUDY WOODRUFF: E.J., very quickly, back home, you have the House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, saying she wants a caucus of House Democrats. She's invited Zbigniew Brzezinski from the Carter administration, Richard Holbrooke, the former U.N. ambassador, to sit around and talk to them. What else can the Democrats do, other than just criticize? Are they in a position now to be part of a constructive solution?

E.J. DIONNE: Well, some of that's up to the president. I mean, the president, under our system, has almost the entire power over foreign policy, unless Congress is willing to cut off funds for the war, which most of the Democrats have said they don't want to do because they don't want to endanger our troops.

But a lot of the people who voted for the Democrats in this year's elections were voting for -- to use a Democratic slogan -- a new direction in Iraq, and they were voting to get us out of there. So I think it's incumbent upon the Democrats to put together alternatives. . .

JUDY WOODRUFF: David, what is the most useful role for the Democrat right now in this?

DAVID BROOKS: . . . I think, the president's biggest problem would be the Republicans, not the Democrats. House Republicans, Senate Republicans -- those few that remain, that happy band -- they want to be out. They do not ever want to face another election, 2008, with American troops substantially in Iraq. And so they are going to be a bigger problem for the White House than the Democrats probably.

E.J. DIONNE: I think that's right. And I think the Democrats don't want to be in a sort of "stab in the back" position. They don't want the Republicans to take the mess that they started and, if it turns out badly, they'll blame the Democrats for it. So they have to walk a very careful line.

Oh-oh

http://masl.to/?G1682134E
[Reuters] Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison's former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain's El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter apparently signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

"The handwritten signature was above his printed name and in the same handwriting in the margin was written: "Make sure this is accomplished" . . .

Rumsfeld also authorized the army to break the Geneva Conventions by not registering all prisoners, Karpinski said, explaining how she raised the case of one unregistered inmate with an aide to former U.S. commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.

"We received a message from the Pentagon, from the Defense Secretary, ordering us to hold the prisoner without registering him. I now know this happened on various occasions."

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/25/121347/13
[SusanG] Now that Rumsfeld’s been thrown under the bus, revelations come seeping out of the woodwork . . .

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/11/karpinski_alleges_rumsfeld_personally_ordered_abusive_interrogations.html
[Dan Froomkin] Former General Karpinsky (demoted to Colonel) has an axe to grind: she was made into the scapegoat for Abu Ghraib. Circumstantial evidence is pretty strong that higher-ups who reported directly to Rumsfeld, notably Gen. Miller, were at least as much to blame, but they escaped all responsibility.

How reliable a witness is Karpinsky? Hard to say -- but reliable enough to deserve a hearing. Or two: one in the House and one in the Senate, say. . .

Josh Marshal gives the state of play over the House Intelligence Committee chair fight

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011274

Matt Yglesias forecasts the upcoming struggles over congressional oversight (short version: don’t get too excited)

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/subpoenas/

Voting irregularities a nation-wide problem

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/us/politics/26vote.html
Tens of thousands of voters, scattered across more than 25 states, encountered serious problems at the polls . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500778.html
FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.).

THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.); King Abdullah of Jordan.

NEWSMAKERS (C-SPAN): Frank.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens.-elect Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Ike Skelton (D-Mo.); Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.); retired Army Gens. Barry R. McCaffrey and Wayne A. Downing.

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.); Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie; Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R-Md.); former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger; former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; retired Army Brig. Gen. James A. Marks; retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael P. DeLong.

Bonus item: Your daily Mo-Do

http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2006/11/maureen-dowd-no-one-to-lose-to.html
[Maureen Dowd] After the Thanksgiving Day Massacre of Shiites by Sunnis, President Bush should go on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and give an interview headlined: “If I did it, here’s how the civil war in Iraq happened.”

He could describe, hypothetically, a series of naïve, arrogant and self-defeating blunders, including his team’s failure to comprehend that in the Arab world, revenge and religious zealotry can be stronger compulsions than democracy and prosperity. . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 9:07 AM

 
CIVIL WAR

Much of the mainstream media finally crosses the Rubicon, starts calling the massacre in Iraq what it has been for a while now

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-iraq25nov25,0,159999.story
Iraq's civil war worsened Friday . . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/24/231042/81
[CNN] Michael, the Iraqi government and the U.S. military in Baghdad keep saying this is not a civil war. What are you seeing?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, firstly, let me say, perhaps it's easier to deny that this is a civil war, when essentially you live in the most heavily fortified place in the country within the Green Zone, which is true of both the prime minister, the national security adviser for Iraq and, of course, the top U.S. military commanders. However, for the people living on the streets, for Iraqis in their homes, if this is not civil war, or a form of it, then they do not want to see what one really looks like.

This is what we're talking about. We're talking about Sunni neighborhoods shelling Shia neighborhoods, and Shia neighborhoods shelling back. We're having Sunni communities dig fighting positions to protect their streets. We're seeing Sunni extremists plunging car bombs into heavily-populated Shia marketplaces. We're seeing institutionalized Shia death squads in legitimate police and national police commando uniforms going in, systematically, to Sunni homes in the middle of the night and dragging them out, never to be seen again.

I mean, if this is not civil war, where there is, on average, 40 to 50 tortured, mutilated, executed bodies showing up on the capital streets each morning, where we have thousands of unaccounted for dead bodies mounting up every month, and where the list of those who have simply disappeared for the sake of the fact that they have the wrong name, a name that is either Sunni or Shia, so much so that we have people getting dual identity cards, where parents cannot send their children to school, because they have to cross a sectarian line, then, goodness, me, I don't want to see what a civil war looks like either if this isn't one. . . .

But not all of them. . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112401317.html
In a wave of reprisal killings, Shiite militiamen attacked Sunni mosques in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq on Friday, defying a government curfew and propelling the country further toward full-blown civil war. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/world/middleeast/25iraq.html
“Securing Baghdad and gaining control of the violent situation will be a priority agenda item when President Bush meets with Prime Minister Maliki in just a few days,” said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. . . . He also repeated the administration’s insistence that Iraq was not in a civil war. “We’re constantly asked that question. . .”

Oh, this is sick

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Shiite militiamen doused six Sunni Arabs with kerosene and burned them alive as Iraqi soldiers stood by, and killed 19 other Sunnis in attacks on their mosques Friday, taking revenge for the previous day's attack on a Sadr City slum. . .

More (and more and more and more): http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/24/114849/92

http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/233-dead-in-civil-war-carnage-health.html

http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/sunnis-set-afire-mosques-attacked.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9150.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011262
[David Kurtz] Think about that for a minute. It took two hours for American and Iraqi troops just to respond to the siege of a major governmental building in the capital. . .

Let’s see, the spike in violence in Iraq in October was cynically exploited by the Bush gang and their mouthpieces to suggest that the insurgency was making things worse because they wanted the Democrats to win. Well, now the election is over, and the insurgency has continued to get even worse. Is there some way they can manage to blame the Democrats for that too?

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/why-i-hate-rather-than-dislike-bush.html

Watch what happens next – this will tell you everything: Sadr and his followers tell Maliki not to meet with Bush, or they will leave the governing coalition. What will Maliki do?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html

The silent treatment

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011269
[Josh Marshall] Is it just me or has George W. Bush checked out of the stumbling national crisis we know as 'Iraq'?

I know his name shows up in the headlines. He's meeting Iraq Prime Minister Maliki next week in Amman. Vice President Cheney is shuttling to Saudi Arabia. And all of this is being billed as a part of a new and broader 'regional' approach to getting the conflict under some measure of control.

But I don't hear the president. Not his voice. The one thing that's been a constant over the last three and a half years is the president as the voice of American Iraq policy. Whether he's the author of it is another question entirely. But the voice and pitbull of it, always.

And yet since the election he seems to have disappeared from the conversation entirely. Like he's just checked out. It's not his thing anymore. . .

[T]here's really no more cheerleading to be done for the whole effort. It's a hard slog, a tortuous battle to find some least bad outcome to the whole affair.

Back when he was riding high President Bush used to say that he 'didn't do nuance' -- a point on which he was unquestionably right. And that being the case, there's just nothing left for him to say. No more chest-thumping or rah-rah or daring his opponents to say he's wrong. So he's just gone silent. Like it's not his problem any more. . .

Losing credibility on Iraq

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_atrios_archive.html#116438911639206147
[Guess who?] Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do. . .

Dead enders

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/24/202333/40
[Cliff May, NRO] But because “victory” as Bush once defined it now seems out of reach, it does not follow that the solution is to cut and run — or even to cut and stroll away, the policy euphemistically called “phased redeployment.” More modest but still significant goals can be achieved.

We can continue to fight Saddamist insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists wherever we find them — and we find them in Iraq. We can accelerate the training of Iraqi forces. We can do what is necessary to stabilize Baghdad — as we have pledged to do and tried to do but so far have failed to do because sufficient resources have not been devoted to the task. . .

[Georgia10] Thank you, Dr. May, for diagnosing the cause of our failure in Iraq is such a spot-on accurate way. Silly U.S. military. It just hasn't been training the Iraqi forces fast enough. Slackers. And it hasn't done "what is necessary"--whatever that is--to stabilize Iraq. And that $345 billion dollars poured into Iraq thus far? Not "sufficient". See all that blood in the streets? Evidently, it's because we haven't been trying hard enough. . . [read on]

In fact, right now the US is looking less and less relevant to the future of the region, even as they keep up with their bluster (thanks to Owen for the link)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6182800.stm
The killing of Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel may be the "first shot" in a coup against the government, a top US official has said.

John Bolton, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said recent probes into political killings in Lebanon suggested Syrian involvement.

He told the BBC that if Syria was deemed to have been involved, the implications were serious. . . . "A few weeks ago the White House took the unprecedented step of saying that Syria and Iran, acting through Hezbollah, were on the verge of staging a coup d'etat against the democratically elected government of Lebanon, and I have to say that this assassination of Pierre Gemayel might well be the first shot in that coup."

He said did not want to pre-judge any investigation into Mr Gemayel's death, but proof of Syrian involvement would show it was "not just a supporter of terrorism but is a state actor in a terrorist fashion".

"I think the United States has to take that into account when it decides whether and to what extent to deal with a country like that.”

From Australia, another “Downing Street Memo” type revelation that the decision to invade Iraq (despite the Bush gang’s promises) was made and locked in long before “diplomatic alternatives” were exhausted

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/memos_from_the_antipodes/

The peacemaker

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112400872.html
In 1984, Robert Gates, then the No. 2 CIA official, advocated U.S. airstrikes against Nicaragua's pro-Cuban government to reverse what he described as an ineffective U.S. strategy to deal with communist advances in Central America, previously classified documents say. . .

Under the radar

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/washington/25nsa.html
When President Bush went on national television one Saturday morning last December to acknowledge the existence of a secret wiretapping program outside the courts, the fallout was fierce and immediate.

Mr. Bush’s opponents accused him of breaking the law, with a few even calling for his impeachment. His backers demanded that he be given express legal authority to do what he had done. Law professors talked, civil rights groups sued and a federal judge in Detroit declared the wiretapping program unconstitutional.

But as Democrats prepare to take over on Capitol Hill, not much has really changed. For all the sound and fury in the last year, the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program continues uninterrupted, with no definitive action by either Congress or the courts on what, if anything, to do about it . . .

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/25/23726/527

Nancy Pelosi’s first big challenge: how will she square the circle with the Intelligence Committee chair: Hastings or Harman (or Holt)?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011263

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011264

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/24/192130/05

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2006/11/pelosis_choice_on_intel.php

The national press finally takes notice of the stolen election in the Florida 13th district (Katherine Harris’s old district, surprise surprise)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/24/73614/762

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011261

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/vote_fraud_/2006/11/deja_vu_all_over_again.php

(Not that this justifies anything, but it was apparently the ballot design, not the machine count, that was jiggered)

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/24/8483/3321

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/24/113148/80

McCain/Lieberman as a THIRD-PARTY ticket in ‘08?

Yes: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9151.html

No way: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/24/122443/56

A bad time to be a federal whistleblower

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9151.html

Bonus item (theocracy edition): Christian hypocrite James Dobson says he could help fellow Christian hypocrite Ted Haggard “convert” from his homosexuality into nice healthy, normal heterosexuality – but he won’t. Why not? Read and laugh

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/23/dobson-haggard-cure-gay/

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011265

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:00 AM

 
JOB OPENINGS

Discontent on the far right with the firing of Don Rumsfeld – and with how Bush did it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112201620.html
[Bob Novak] According to administration officials, only three or four people knew he would be fired -- and Rumsfeld was not one of them. His fellow presidential appointees, including some who did not applaud Rumsfeld's performance in office, were taken aback by his treatment.

In the two weeks since the election, I have asked a wide assortment of Republican notables their opinion of the Rumsfeld sacking. Only one went on the record: Rep. Duncan Hunter, the House Armed Services Committee chairman. A rare undeviating supporter of Rumsfeld, Hunter told me that "it was a mistake for him to resign." The others, less supportive of Rumsfeld, said they were "appalled" -- the most common descriptive word -- by the president's performance.

The treatment of his war minister connotes something deeply wrong with George W. Bush's presidency in its sixth year. Apart from Rumsfeld's failures in personal relations, he never has been anything short of loyal in executing the president's wishes. But loyalty appears to be a one-way street for Bush. His shrouded decision to sack Rumsfeld after declaring that he would serve out the second term fits the pattern of a president who is secretive and impersonal. . . [Wow -- read on]

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/gwb_the_beloved_leader_/2006/11/bob_novak_sticks_the_shiv_in.php
[Mark Kleiman] Bob Novak sticks the shiv in . . .

Four people have turned down Condi Rice to become her Deputy after Robert Zoellick left. Why is the Bush gang having such a hard time finding people to join their mighty team?

http://politicalinsider.com/2006/11/rice_still_without_deputy.html

The Democrats get aggressive

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/washington/24documents.html
Seeking information about detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and government secrecy, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are reviving dozens of demands for classified documents that until now have been rebuffed or ignored by the Justice Department and other agencies.

“I expect real answers, or we’ll have testimony under oath until we get them,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/23/senate.intelligence/index.html
The incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says he will have a "cleanup agenda" ready when Democrats take power in January.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said the agenda will include reviews of the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping and the CIA's secret prisons.

Rockefeller said he wants to correct what he called a "lack of oversight" by the committee that gave free rein to the Bush administration in the war on terror. . . .

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Pelosi_announces_Iraq_Democratic_forum_1121.html
Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has announced a "Democratic forum" on the Iraq war that will take place early next month . . .

On the intellectual collapse of conservatism. Aside from the politics of it, conservatism was once a fairly coherent political theory: while one could certainly argue against it, it was based in plausible assumptions and a wider theory of the world. Even Newt Gingrich was a political philosopher of a sort. Then came the era of DeLay and Rove – and what happened was that conservative ideology became nothing more than a framework of rationalizations for the maintenance of Republican power for its own sake. Government pork and fealty to lobbying groups replaced any serious or coherent plan for society. Focus-grouped slogans replaced deep thinking. The phrase “principled conservative” became an oxymoron. A self-conception as hard-headed and realistic (where liberals were fuzzy-headed and naive) became the rejection of “reality-based” politics. A positivistic faith in science was replaced by religious true belief in the most simplistic and absolutist credos, even when they clashed with the evidence. All of this reached its quintessence, of course, in George Bush, who famously said that his favorite political philosopher was “Jesus Christ,” and who embodied all the worst qualities of incuriosity and unreflectiveness. Now, increasingly, serious conservatives are distancing themselves from Bush’s legacy of failure, facing the prospect of another long season in the wilderness . . .

http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_11_20/cover.html
[Austin Bramwell] Until recently, it has been almost impossible for me to speak candidly about the conservative movement, for it was my strange fate to serve as director and later trustee of the movement’s flagship journal, National Review. Earlier this year, at William F. Buckley’s request, I resigned both positions. I can therefore now declare what perhaps has oft been thought but never, at least not often enough, expressed. Notwithstanding conservatives’ belief that they, in contrast to their partisan opponents, have thought deeply about the challenges facing the United States, it is they who have become unserious. . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116424137363244075

The Senate field for 2008: a lot of Republican seats within reach, few Democratic seats at risk

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/23/132649/69

McCain and Lieberman – don’t they deserve each other? How have two politicians with such a record of reshaping their positions to fit current moods maintained the reputation of plainspeaking and principled straight shooters?

http://mydd.com/story/2006/11/23/12183/507

The quagmire in Iraq: a brilliant and informative analysis of how the Bush gang got us into this mess. It will shock you to discover what they never thought about or didn’t seem to know

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19720
[Mark Danner] "You know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end." The ninety-eight-year-old George F. Kennan, sitting in the Washington nursing home as the war came on. . .

Since the first thrilling night of shock and awe, reported with breathless enthusiasm by the American television networks, the Iraq war has had at least two histories, that of the war itself and that of the American perception of it. As the months passed and the number of attacks in Iraq grew, the gap between those two histories opened wider and wider. And finally, for most Americans, the War of Imagination—built of nationalistic excitement and ideological hubris and administration pronouncements about "spreading democracy" and "greetings with sweets and flowers," and then about "dead-enders" and "turning points," and finally about "staying the course" and refusing "to cut and run"—began, under the pressure of nearly three thousand American dead and perhaps a hundred thousand or more dead Iraqis, to give way to grim reality. . . [read on!]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116429677469736711

Bonus item: What to say when conservatives ask you, “oh yeah, so what’s YOUR solution to the Iraq problem?”

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=21664

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:37 AM

 
GIVE THANKS

Give thanks that you don’t live in Iraq. 3700 innocent men, women, and children were killed there last month in their “Not a Civil War.” Let me put this in perspective, adjusting for size: imagine that each month 40,000 Americans were being blown up, or tortured and murdered (that would be more than ten 9/11s, or more than two hundred Oklahoma City bombings, every month). What would we call that? How much pressure would we be putting on our government to put an end to it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/world/middleeast/23iraqcnd.html

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011250
[CNN] More than 140 bodies have been found dumped across Baghdad over the past three days, police said Wednesday.

Police said 52 bullet-riddled bodies were found Wednesday, with 20 of them blindfolded, tied up and possibly tortured.

Police also discovered 29 bodies on Tuesday and 60 on Monday. . .

Give thanks that Nancy Pelosi is in charge now – here’s her “first hundred hours” game plan. It’s pretty damn good (IF they do it)

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/22/0259/2848

Give thanks that the military leadership is starting to speak out honestly: we CAN’T keep maintaining these troop levels in Iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/22/us.marines/index.html

Give thanks that we still have some honesty in our political discourse

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_atrios_archive.html#116421891289656695
[Lawrence O’Donnell] Advocating war is easier when you and your family are not endangered by it. I've reached a Rangel-like breaking point with my TV pundit colleagues who championed the Iraq war and now say we can't leave even if we went there for the wrong reasons. For every one of them, I have a simple question: Why aren't you in Iraq? Or why did you avoid combat in your generation's war? The one unifying characteristic that all of us men in make-up on political chat shows share is fear of combat. Every one of us has done everything we can to avoid combat or even being fitted for a military uniform. Just like George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Dick Cheney, we are all combat cowards. It takes a very special kind of combat coward to advocate combat for others. . . .

Give thanks that you’re not "Dr." Eric Keroack right now

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/22/183538/87
Pearson also acknowledged yesterday that Keroack is not currently certified as an obstetrician-gynecologist. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9138.html
[Steve Benen] It was almost as if the Bush administration was trying to find the most offensive choice possible to be the new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services. . .

[NB: It’s okay, with any luck he’ll soon be “On the Road”: http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=f3190a42-c348-4abf-b23b-7035a5765523]

Give thanks for Tom DeLay: his policy of squeezing out Dems worked fine as long as his party held the whip hand – now that they don’t, his state of Texas has ZERO clout in the new Congress

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/22/134457/23

Give thanks that George “Macaca” Allen (R-VA) will soon be an EX-Senator

http://cabdrollery.blogspot.com/2006/11/fitting-farewell.html
As a last little gift to America, Senator George Allen, who was narrowly defeated by James Webb this month, has introduced what may be his final piece of legislation: a bill that would allow the carrying of concealed weapons in national parks. . .

Give thanks that people are being vigilant about the Florida 13 election theft

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/22/122943/21
The group of nearly 18,000 voters that registered no choice in Sarasota's disputed congressional election solidly backed Democratic candidates in all five of Florida's statewide races, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of ballot data shows. . . .

Give thanks that it’s not 2008 yet: a McCain/Lieberman ticket?

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001792.php

Give thanks for the razor-sharp political instincts of the Bush clan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_defending_bush_1
Former President George H.W. Bush took on Arab critics of his son Tuesday during a testy exchange at a leadership conference . . . "My son is an honest man," Bush told members of the audience . . .

Give thanks for the Internet

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/04/politics/main586761.shtml
[2003] That beautiful golden-brown turkey President Bush held during his surprise visit to U.S. troops in Iraq was for show, not for eating, the Washington Post reports.

The photo of Mr. Bush holding the bird on a platter laden with trimmings was the most memorable image of the president's 2 1/2-hour stay with U.S. troops at the Baghdad International Airport.

The newspaper reported that in response to questions about the bird, the White House said the turkey was a decoration . . .

Give thanks for Molly Ivins

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20061122_molly_ivins_thanks_no_seriously/
It’s time to give thanks, and I want to start off with a great, big thank you for the top American movement conservatives and all the fun we’ve had since Election Day. I know I promised not to gloat after this election was over, but . . .

Bonus item: 20 more reasons to be thankful

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_allen_l__061122_20_reasons_to_be_tha.htm

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:37 AM

 
CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Go Nancy!

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/21/202740/87
Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi will open the House for the first session of the 110th Congress on January 4, and keep it in session for the first several weeks of January.

While that may not sound remarkable outside-the-beltway, it is departure from tradition that is certain to prompt some teeth gnashing among Republicans. . .

Pelosi has an ambitious “first hundred hours” agenda, and will keep the House close to the grindstone. So how do the Repubs try to muck it up? By leaving billions in budget bills unfinished for the Democrats to deal with after the holidays. The Dems should make this a front-page story: the Republicans are shirking their responsibilities to punish the people for daring to vote them out

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061121/ap_on_go_co/cluttered_congress
Republicans vacating the Capitol are dumping a big spring cleaning job on Democrats moving in. GOP leaders have opted to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills. . . . There's also no guarantee that Republicans will pass a multibillion-dollar measure to prevent a cut in fees to doctors treating Medicare patients.

The bulging workload that a Republican-led Congress was supposed to complete this year but is instead punting to 2007 promises to consume time and energy that Democrats had hoped to devote to their own agenda upon taking control of Congress in January for the first time in a dozen years.

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011236
[Josh Marshall] Pretty amazing stuff. And it seems like it's being treated with a near total media blackout. Stung by the voters' rebuke, the out-going Republican Congress has decided to close its doors without doing it's mandated job, finishing the budget bills for next year. By all rights they should send back their paychecks too.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010274.php
[Kevin Drum] It's like watching a bunch of first graders stomp off the playground . . .

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3600
[Swopa, the Master of Framing] Ah, but what if the Democratic message isn't just "We're going to do X, Y, and Z" but something broader -- that they're the real daddy party, the party that recognizes the moral duty of doing the people's business, the grown-ups taking over for Republicans who have betrayed their fundamental responsibilities?

Then, cleaning up the Republicans' abandoned duties doesn't "kill the Democrats' message" at all, it just reinforces it. That's what happens when you have an effective narrative.

The fight over the House Intelligence Committee: what’s wrong with Alcee Hastings?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002023.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011235

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011239

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011240

What’s wrong with Jane Harman?

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001791.php

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002022.php

The New Generation of Republicans: not exactly the best and the brightest

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/21/132349/69

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4345926.html

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/unfortunately-heather-wilson-r-nm-and.html

Are the Republicans turning themselves into a Southern regional party? Northeastern Repubs are becoming an endangered species – and several are talking about switching parties

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/21/18399/417

Who said it?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116415245132878459
"America rejected shorthand, people are thinking again."

Ouch! Robert Reich outs John McCain

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_atrios_archive.html#116413230722829586
I talked with John McCain Sunday morning in the green room just before “This Week.” I asked him why he continued to call for more troops for Iraq when he must know it's a political non-starter. He said he thought it important for the morale of the troops. . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9130.html

Why McCain better hope he doesn’t get his wish

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116413856010292584

Will Bob Gates, Rumsfeld’s replacement, end the politicization of intelligence? (don’t count on it)

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005225.html

Over time, we’re going to start to find out what the military really thought about Rumsfeld and his policies – and it won’t be pretty

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611200195nov20,1,7360688.story

The Pentagon’s fight against domestic “terrorists” (it would be funny if it weren’t so scary)

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002021.php

Bush (see how far he’s slipped down the priority list?) does what losing Presidents always do – get out of the country for a while. Now he’s “reinvigorated,” say the press stenographers parroting Karl Rove’s Message of the Day. But the real story is, his policy against North Korea is so screwed up he can’t even get South Korea, who is directly threatened by them, to go along with it

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/strange-ap-article-on-bush-being.html

It’s a trap!

http://www.slate.com/id/2154376/
[Daniel Politi] The WP and WSJ point out the Bush administration is telling the incoming Democratic majority it wants to once again talk about Social Security with "no preconditions." Although officials deny it, this offer is leading some to speculate the White House would be willing to drop the requirement that workers be allowed to put some of their Social Security taxes into private accounts.

Oh boy. Bush is “writing” his memoirs

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7849
[US News] To the list of those penning books about the prez add the most authoritative source of all: President Bush. Insiders say that he's been working on the project for a year. "He's doing a memoir," one insider says. "He's keenly interested in it." But here's the odd part: Bush hasn't actually written a word yet. Instead, he and his aides have been packaging the stuff he wants to reference so that he'll be ready to write when the project moves into that stage. And that probably won't happen until after he leaves office.



Bonus item: Payback time! (too mean? too partisan? I like it anyway)

http://buffalobeast.com/110/crush_kill_destroy.htm

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:22 AM

 
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

We’ll see how this plays out, but for all the reviews, reassessments, and study groups, it appears right now that the only “new” idea on Iraq the Bush gang is prepared to consider seriously is INCREASING troop levels there

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/20/161648/18
[Meteor Blades] Does anybody remember that a year ago this month, the White House released its National Strategy for Victory in Iraq? Key elements of that plan, which the Administration placed in an Appendix and labeled "The Eight Pillars," were: Defeat the Terrorists and Neutralize the Insurgency; Transition Iraq to Security Self-Reliance; Help Iraqis Forge a National Compact for Democratic Government; Help Iraq Build Government Capacity and Provide Essential Services; Help Iraq Strengthen Its Economy; Help Iraq Strengthen the Rule of Law and Promote Civil Rights; Increase International Support for Iraq; Strengthen Public Understanding of Coalition Efforts and Public Isolation of the Insurgents.

Every one of those pillars has been a colossal failure. . .

More: http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3595

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100171_pf.html
The U.S. military's effort to train Iraqi forces has been rife with problems, from officers being sent in with poor preparation to a lack of basic necessities such as interpreters and office materials, according to internal Army documents.

The shortcomings have plagued a program that is central to the U.S. strategy in Iraq and is growing in importance. A Pentagon effort to rethink policies in Iraq is likely to suggest placing less emphasis on combat and more on training and advising. . .

No decision

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011222
[David Kurtz] November 2006: "President Bush said Monday that he has made no decisions about altering the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, and he refused to discuss the pros and cons that would accompany such a decision."

August 2005: President Bush said Thursday no decision has been made on increasing or decreasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq, saying that as "Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" and that only conditions on the ground will dictate when it is time for a reduction in U.S. forces.

April 2004: "Gen. John P. Abizaid, the senior commander in the Middle East, has asked for contingency plans for increasing the number of troops in Iraq. No decision has been made to supplement the 134,000 troops now there, and White House officials said it was unclear whether such a move would help the situation."

November 2003: "The President is going to do what is most effective in Iraq, and he gets recommendations from his commanders on troop levels and what is needed. No decisions have been made about future troops levels," said National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

We’ve been saying for a long time that the real crunch from Iraq will come, not from declining popular support (Bush and Cheney have both said they don’t care how unpopular the war becomes), but from the simple numbers game that you can’t keep extending and multiplying tours of duty forever. Two former generals now say it: the war has “broken” the armed forces, and it’s simply impossible to sustain (or increase) troop levels for very long now

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011217
[Barry McCaffrey] “That’s how to break the Army is to keep it deployed above the rate at which it can be sustained,” he said. “There’s no free lunch here. The Army and the Marine Corps and Special Operations Command are too small and badly resourced to carry out this national security strategy.”

[William Odom] Our leaders do not act because their reputations are at stake. The public does not force them to act because it is blinded by the president's conjured set of illusions: that we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq, creating democracy there, preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, making Israel more secure, not allowing our fallen soldiers to have died in vain, and others.

But reality no longer can be avoided. It is beyond U.S. power to prevent sectarian violence in Iraq, the growing influence of Iran throughout the region, the probable spread of Sunni-Shiite strife to neighboring Arab states, the eventual rise to power of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr or some other anti-American leader in Baghdad, and the spread of instability beyond Iraq.

These realities get worse every day that our forces remain in Iraq. They can't be wished away by clever diplomacy or by leaving our forces in Iraq for several more years. . .

Here’s another mistake the geniuses who brought us this war have made: because they’re basically contemptuous of (or ignorant about) the nations and cultures we are fighting, they assume that we are the only ones doing any geopolitical strategizing. But these are the cultures of Persia and Mesopotamia: they were moving pieces around the board when most of the West was living in mud huts. Did we really think they would just sit back and let us redesign their region for them?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/world/middleeast/21iraqcnd.html
Iraq re-established diplomatic relations with Syria on Monday, agreeing to restore an embassy in Baghdad after more than 20 years with no formal avenues of communication. . .

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3330605,00.html
Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers said on Monday.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday. . .

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-iraq21nov21,1,4310779.story

Thank you so very much (now go away)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010269.php
[Kevin Drum] PIPA has released a new poll of Iraqi attitudes toward the U.S. occupation, and the takeaway is very, very clear: they want us to leave. 74% of Shiites and 91% of Sunnis want us to leave within a year (the number is 80% for Shiites in Baghdad). By wide margins, both groups believe U.S. forces are provoking more violence than they're preventing . . .

Bush finally goes to Vietnam (insert draft-dodger joke here), says it is proof that you only lose a war by quitting. But we did lose that war, and despite all the howls that Vietnam would be ruined if we withdrew, they are now a thriving nation Bush holds up as a model of development. Huh?!?? Has anybody thought this argument through?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011214

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011220

Keith Olbermann: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z49131C3E
Mr. Bush, there are a dozen central lessons to be derived from our nightmare in Vietnam, but "we'll succeed unless we quit" is not one of them. . . . [don’t miss it!]

How we REALLY lost Vietnam

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005220.html

Déjà vu (all over again)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9119.html
[Steve Benen] Seymour Hersh has a rather astonishing piece in the latest edition of the New Yorker, concluding that, White House bluster notwithstanding, a draft intelligence assessment by the CIA has found “no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear-weapons program.” . . . Naturally, the Bush gang isn’t terribly impressed — with either the Hersh article or the alleged CIA report.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino did not respond directly to Hersh’s assertions, but said the article was another “error-filled piece” in a “series of inaccuracy-riddled articles about the Bush administration.”

“The White House is not going to dignify the work of an author who has viciously degraded our troops, and whose articles consistently rely on outright falsehoods to justify his own radical views,” she said on Monday.

Ad hominem attacks notwithstanding, if Hersh is correct, an eerily familiar pattern is emerging. Indeed, watching Hersh on CNN yesterday, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve heard all of this before. . . .

I doubt it will happen this way, but what happens if the Republicans fail to pass Bush’s domestic spying bill before the Democrats take over?

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061119/27surveillance.htm

More: http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2889/

Perfect timing

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/washington/21protests.html
An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations . . .

What did Bush know and when did he know it? (torture edition)

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005219.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011212

Dog bites man

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9114.html
[Steve Benen] Sometimes, the Bush gang really does resemble a jukebox that only plays one song. Karl Rove, for all of his alleged genius, has decided what the White House really needs to do is — surprise, surprise — move to the right and placate the GOP base. . .

It seemed like only two weeks ago when “bi-partisanship” was the buzz word. Oh wait, it was only two weeks ago. Since then, the White House has shown its commitment to the notion of working with congressional Dems by thumbing its nose at the new majority party, all because Karl Rove thinks Bush should “shore up his standing with conservatives.” Here’s my question: doesn’t Rove always think Bush should “shore up his standing with conservatives”? When has Rove failed to advise Bush to “shore up his standing with conservatives”? . . .

The Goofus Files (theocracy edition)

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7835
A whole society is a society which welcomes basic freedoms, and there's no more basic freedom than the basic -- the freedom to worship as you see fit. . . .

My hope is that people all across the world will be able to express religion freedom. . . .

I believe the vast majority of people want to live in moderation and not have extremists kill innocent people. And so, therefore, our policies are to promote that kind of form of government. It's not going to look like America. . .

OK, time to start gearing up for 2008 and the inevitable John McCain juggernaut. One of the key issues will be whether he can maintain his image as a plain-talking maverick as he tacks more and more toward conventional GOP talking points on a host of issues where he previously had an independent position. If Kerry could be painted as a “flip-flopper,” what will happen to McCain?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010264.php
[Kevin Drum] I see that on Sunday John "Straight Talk" McCain demonstrated once again that he's fully absorbed his lesson from 2000: straight talk doesn't win elections for Republicans. Sucking up to social conservatives does. So now he's pulled a full 180 . . .

More: http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2095.html

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2096.html
[Charles Pierce] That new cable fun show, John McCain Will Say Almost Any Damn Thing, rolled into George Stephanopoulos' joint this weekend, where the Straight Talker flipped, flopped, and flew. Gaze in awe. I swear, if I walked up to the man, and whispered that I could deliver a precinct in Manchester, he'd give me his car on the spot. That he plainly doesn't know what he's talking straight about, however, is a more alarming problem. If you throw the privacy rights of 51 percent of the American people back to the states -- and that is what the debate over choice really is, all scriptural filigree aside, an argument about the right to privacy -- you are not a "federalist," the historical antecedents of whom were the advocates of a strong central government empowered to tell the states what the national interest really was. (As best I can recall, Ronald Reagan was the first one to take this particular scam for a spin.) What you are proposing is a return to the doctrine of "states' rights," which fell partly out of favor due to all that unpleasantness at the Edmund Pettus Bridge and in the earthen dams around Philadelphia, Mississippi. It still stands in a bad odor today except within the shrinking Republican base, and in the office of the new Senate Minority Whip, who thinks it got an unfair hearing back in '48.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9111.html
McCain’s flourishing flip-flop list . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9115.html
[Steve Benen] Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stuck to the script yesterday during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, repeating his desire to see more troops sent to Iraq. What’s interesting, however, is that McCain seemed to need his notes quite a bit to get through the discussion.

Take a look and count how many times McCain looks down to read his talking points over the course of the minute. . .

Now, I can appreciate the fact that the war is complicated, but George Stephanopoulos was simply asking McCain to discuss his own position on troop deployment. Shouldn’t the senator, who believes he should be president, be able to talk about his approach to the war, and his plan to send thousands of additional troops, without literally reading talking points? . . .

I hate him, but the political world will certainly be a lot more interesting with Newt Gingrich back in it

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116405906339073688
[CNN] In casting himself as the reluctant but critical-for-these-times candidate, the former history professor is looking back to 1860, and the wildfire support for Lincoln's candidacy touched off by a series of speeches . . . "I was fascinated by Holzer's portrait of Lincoln spending three months at the Springfield state library, putting together the definitive argument about the Constitution, the Founding Fathers and slavery," Gingrich says.

"He turns it into a 7,300-word speech - gives it once in New York, once in Rhode Island, once in Massachusetts, once in New Hampshire. Then he goes home. I was struck by the sheer courage of the self-definitional moment that said, 'We are in real trouble, we need real leadership, and if that's who you think we need, here's my speech'," Gingrich says, suggesting he intends to do the same thing. . . .

'I'm going to tell you something, and whether or not it's plausible given the world you come out of is your problem'. . . 'I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen.' . . . .

“The black Rush Limbaugh”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9122.html
[Steve Benen] The Bush gang intervened to make sure that outgoing Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) not become the next chairman of the Republican National Committee, but don’t worry, they have big plans in mind for the failed Senate candidate. According to Bob Novak, the Bush gang is urging Steele to forgo a job in government and instead try broadcasting. “Bush political strategists have told Steele a high-ranking post in the administration’s last two years would curb his independence and cramp his style. Instead, they advised, he could be ‘a black Rush Limbaugh.’”

How the Repubs will attack Pelosi (and Clinton)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/19/wus19.xml
"Two years of Pelosi gives a good idea of what four years of Hillary will be like," said Tom DeLay, the Republican powerbroker who ran his party in the House before he was caught up in a lobbyist corruption scandal. "They are both committed liberals and we will make that clear to the American people." . . .

Sexist, too: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116398055340950786

Ah, a nice overview of the vicious, corrupt way the Republicans run their campaigns these days

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/11/21/cheat_sheet/

Blunt instrument

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2006/11/edsall_on_roy_blunt_a_gift_that_will_keep_on_giving.php
[Thomas Edsall] Last Friday, the Republicans gave the Democrats a gift that will keep on giving: Roy Blunt of Missouri. . . Blunt embodies the insidious, half-legal corruption that has permeated the G.O.P. majority since 1995. Blunt’s election as minority whip, by a 137-to-57 margin, was a defiant Republican rejection of calls to clean up their act. . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2154245/
[Daniel Politi] House Democratic leaders [say] they will issue a major ethic reform package in early 2007. But instead of doing it as part of one big bill, House members are planning on putting it out "piece by piece." This would help new House members get attention from the multiple bills and it would highlight each proposal, guaranteeing they all receive a certain amount of media attention. Additional bonus: Republican members would have to vote on each issue separately. . . .

Will the Florida 13th recount issue eventually end up in the (Democratic) House of Representatives?

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/nov/20/fl_13_final_stage_of_house_seat_battle_could_be_the_house

Bonus item: Maybe there is hope for this country after all – OJ Simpson book/tv deal canceled after public outcry

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/business/21simpsoncnd.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:54 AM

 
ALL-IN

Go Big, Go Long, or Go Home

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/19/AR2006111901249.html
The group conducting the review is likely to recommend a combination of a small, short-term increase in U.S. troops and a long-term commitment to stepped-up training and advising of Iraqi forces, the officials said. . .

Now, all of a sudden, we’re hearing more about the Powell Doctrine (the use of overwhelming force in military engagements) as an excuse for increasing troop levels now. To all these lying hypocrites (McCain, Graham, et al): (1) the time to do this is BEFORE you have a major insurgency on your hands and (2) where the hell were you when Generals Shinseki, Zinni, and others were being savaged for saying just this, at the start of the war, when it actually could have done some good? For that matter, where were you when Powell himself was fighting his lonely battles against the neo-con True Believers?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_atrios_archive.html#116395648873521221

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_atrios_archive.html#116397370063175544

Only two little problems here: first, there just aren’t any more troops to send -- second, IT WON’T WORK

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/zakaria-mccain-more-deaths/

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/one_last_push/

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_war_in_iraq_/2006/11/one_more_big_push.php

Yes, it CAN get worse

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010263.php
[Suzanne Nossel] If we don't begin a planned exit, there's a good chance we'll find ourselves in an unplanned one . . .

Blaming the Iraqis for squandering the wonderful democracy we gave them; blaming the US citizens for giving up too soon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601359.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_19.php#011206

Just don’t blame us: the massive effort of Iraq war supporters to avoid being linked to the rotting corpse of Bush’s fiasco

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2006/11/19/ap3188590.html
Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday. . . "If you mean by 'military victory,' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible" . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9105.html
[The New Republic] There is no policy for Iraq that will provide moral and strategic satisfaction and no reason to believe that we might achieve something that could be plausibly described as victory. The coming debate over timetables and troop levels will likely generate much anger, shattering postelection illusions of bipartisanship and provoking intra-party squabbles. But, in the end, this struggle will be over the difference between a largely intolerable outcome and a completely intolerable one.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116394799741596956
[Tristero] Ken Adelman's flack has been getting him a lot of publicity lately, the latest being the lead-off "Had I known then what I know now" guy in this Washington Post article about rats deserting the sinking ship of George Bush's state. And he seems genuinely horrified over what he contributed to, if still somewhat deluded on the subject of it being a good idea. . . However, the fact that Adelman now understands the consequences of what he so foolishly advocated doesn't change those facts, or his responsibility. . .

Ken Adelman has the blood of tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of innocents on his hands. Assuming the best, that he is at some level a moral person, he will have to live with the horror of that fact for the rest of his life, that he directly contributed to the slaughter and carnage. But that is not all.

If there are (as there should be but probably won't be) trials for the perpetrators of this illegal war, Adelman may escape indictment on a technicality but he is morally obligated to testify truthfully about all he knew and saw within the Bush administration regarding the planning and execution of the Bush/Iraq war. . .

Richard Perle. . . . head of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board at the time of the 2003 invasion, said he still believes the invasion was justified. But he resents being called "the architect of the Iraq war," because "my view was different from the administration's view from the very beginning" about how to conduct it. "I am not critical now of anything about which I was not critical before," he said. "I've said it more publicly."

In other words, Perle had a plan, a Grand Vision of exactly how to topple Saddam, install Chalabi, and transform Iraq into a land of milk and honey. Then, through some magical osmosis known only to neoconservatives, the rest of the Arab Middle East would follow. Oh, and by the way, while Israel would finally be safe unto eternity, they should hold onto those nukes they don't have (wink, wink) just in case.

God save us from all future visionaries with clear plans to transform the world. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/19/9516/2124

The Bush gang repeats its mistakes with Iran, ignoring CIA intelligence that tells them what they don’t want to hear

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/secret-cia-report-no-evidence-that.html

McCain flip-flops on Roe v. Wade

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/19/115038/44

Fiscal sanity: it won’t be easy

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/fiscal_gridlock.html

Lazy reporting from the Washington Post

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/reporting_please/

Theocracy watch: don’t miss this masterpiece from Garry Wills. As bad as you think the occupation of the Bush policy apparatus by religious activists has been – it’s been worse

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19590
The right wing in America likes to think that the United States government was, at its inception, highly religious, specifically highly Christian, and even more specifically highly biblical. That was not true of that government or any later government—until 2000, when the fiction of the past became the reality of the present. George W. Bush was not only born-again, like Jimmy Carter. His religious conversion came late, and took place in the political setting of Billy Graham's ministry to the powerful. He was converted during a stroll with Graham on his father's Kennebunkport compound. . .

Bush was a saved alcoholic—and here, too, he had no predecessor in the White House. Ulysses Grant conquered the bottle, but not with the help of Jesus. Other presidents were evangelicals. Three of them belonged to the Disciples of Christ—James Garfield, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan. But none of the three— nor any of the other forty-two presidents preceding Bush (including his father)—would have answered a campaign debate question as he did. Asked who was his favorite philosopher, he said "Jesus Christ." . . . Bush talks evangelical talk as no other president has, including Jimmy Carter, who also talked the language of the secular Enlightenment culture that evangelists despise. Bush told various evangelical groups that he felt God had called him to run for president in 2000: "I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it."

Bush promised his evangelical followers faith-based social services, which he called "compassionate conservatism." He went beyond that to give them a faith-based war, faith-based law enforcement, faith-based education, faith-based medicine, and faith-based science. . .

It is common knowledge that the Republican White House and Congress let "K Street" lobbyists have a say in the drafting of economic legislation, and on the personnel assigned to carry it out, in matters like oil production, pharmaceutical regulation, medical insurance, and corporate taxes. It is less known that for social services, evangelical organizations were given the same right to draft bills and install the officials who implement them. . .

The head of the White House Office of Personnel was Kay Coles James, a former dean of Pat Robertson's Regent University and a former vice-president of Gary Bauer's Family Research Council, the conservative Christian lobbying group that had been set up as the Washington branch of James Dobson's Focus on the Family. She knew whom to put where, or knew the religious right people who knew. An evangelical was in charge of placing evangelicals throughout the bureaucracy. The head lobbyist for the Family Research Council boasted that "a lot of FRC people are in place" in the administration. The evangelicals knew which positions could affect their agenda, whom to replace, and whom they wanted appointed. This was true for the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and Health and Human Services—agencies that would rule on or administer matters dear to the evangelical causes.

The White House was alive with piety. Evangelical leaders were in and out on a regular basis. There were Bible study groups in the White House, as in John Ashcroft's Justice Department. Over half of the White House staff attended the meetings. One of the first things David Frum heard when he went to work there as a speech writer was: "Missed you at the Bible study." . . [read on!]

More on Republican lying, vote fraud – and what to do about it

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/election_2006_/2006/11/the_phony_fliers_cant_mfume_sue.php

The Nightmare on Florida the 13th

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/19/83113/474
[Georgia 10] The recount in FL-13 is over, and Republican Vern Buchanan leads Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes. But it ain't over yet.

For those that haven't followed the race closely, the election in FL-13 can best be summed up by the phrase "the machine ate my vote." Or something like that.

An astounding 18,300 people in Sarasota County, or 13 percent of voters, did not cast a vote for the high-profile congressional race. When a voter does not vote in a particular race, that is called an "undervote." The undervote average in the remaining areas of FL-13? Less than five percent. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/19/21654/343
Meet Kathy Dent. She's the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections in Florida. And she's doing everything she can to prevent election reform.

Earlier this year, election reform groups gathered enough signatures to place a voter-verified paper trail measure on the Sarasota County ballot. Dent, along with other Florida election officials, voiced great opposition to the measure, and they all went to court to have the measure thrown out. The judge in the case sided with election reform groups, and the measure was allowed to go before the voters of Sarasota County. The voters approved the measure. Grudgingly, Dent has now agreed to switch the county to paper ballots.

But paper ballots are for the next election. It's the machines from this election that are still causing headaches in Florida's 13th district. . . Because when you're the Supervisor of Elections and you get to fill out the paperwork, you can make up your own reality. In Dent's world, "machines don't make mistakes", and she's sticking to that story, no matter how fanciful it may be. . .

Bonus item: Mark Kleiman’s new and improved list of areas needing Congressional investigation

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2006/11/no_no_no_no_no.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:46 AM

 
ENEMIES OF THE STATE

No longer Bush’s poodle?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6160466.stm
Mr Blair was challenged by Sir David over the violence in Iraq, saying it had "so far been pretty much of a disaster".

The prime minister replied: "It has. . .”

Throwing good money after bad

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/another-127-billion-for-iraq-and.html
[USAT] The Bush administration is preparing its largest spending request yet for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a proposal that could make the conflict the most expensive since World War II. . . The Pentagon is considering $127 billion to $160 billion in requests from the armed services for the 2007 fiscal year, which began last month, several lawmakers and congressional staff members said. That's on top of $70 billion already approved for 2007.

[John Aravosis] This is ridiculous. Two-thirds of the "war on terror" money we've spent to date has gone to Iraq - meaning, it was wasted. . .

Well, now they’re just babbling. Condi Rice lectures Iraq (again), tells them to look at Vietnam as a model of reform

http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/18-dead-in-baquba-battle-rice-urges.html
[Juan Cole] Whaaat?

On the disgusting, cynical lie that simulated drowning (waterboarding) isn’t torture

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011194
[BL] I served in the Air Force from 1982 to 1988. I was an airborne linguist and, as such, was required to go through survival school at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane. . . Part of survival school was training in interrogation resistance and how to handle oneself in the event of capture by enemy forces. . . . Our trainers were careful to instruct us on the Geneva Conventions and which interrogation techniques were covered and which were illegal. I have a very clear memory of what they said about waterboarding. As I recall, water boarding was classified as torture and was a violation of the Geneva Conventions. They told us about the technique for the simple reason that the North Vietnamese used it on American Forces. They wanted us to know about that technique in case we were ever captured by "scumbags who didn't respect the Geneva Conventions." There were no demonstrations; it was considered too traumatic.

I'm not making this up. The military trainers at our Survival School had nothing but contempt for techniques like this, and we were taught that they were international criminal offenses. We were also warned that there were groups out there who did not respect international law and wouldn't hesitate to use techniques like these to get the information they wanted. . .

Anyone who went through Survival School at the same time I did, in the mid-80's, would have been taught about water boarding and would also have been taught that it was a form of Torture. For the mouthpieces of the current administration to now pretend that waterboarding is somehow acceptable--or even somehow borderline--is a deliberate and methodical deception. I can't speak knowledgably about the interrogation resistance training of the US Military for the last 15 years, but if you were in the service in the 80's and you had any chance of being in a combat risk situation, you went through this training. And every last one of us who has completed this training knows that waterboarding is torture, pure and simple. . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011198

The new defense: yes, it’s torture, but we’ve always done things like this (even though “naive idealists” like to pretend we haven’t)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011200

Uh, yep

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/republicans-hate-our-system-of.html
[John Aravosis] Republicans hate the basic underpinnings of that which makes us America. They don't believe in the Constitution. They don't believe in the Bill of Rights. They don't believe in courts of law. They don't believe in anything, accept anything as law in our country, other than the Bible and their will. They are a party of extremist bullies who simply do not believe in America.

Think that’s too extreme? Read this

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9101.html
[Dick Cheney] We’re confident because the Terrorist Surveillance Program rests on firm legal ground. The Joint Authorization to Use Military Force, passed by Congress after 9/11, provides more than enough latitude for these activities. Therefore the warrant requirements of the FISA law do not apply to this wartime measure. And the program falls squarely within the constitutional powers of the President. Every appellate court to rule on this issue has recognized inherent presidential authority to conduct warrantless surveillance to counter threats directed at the country from abroad. . . . [read on]

More: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/dick-cheney-at-federalist-society-last.html
[Glenn Greenwald dissects Cheney’s lies, as only he can – don’t miss it]

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/18/18622/494
[TChris] Expecting the executive branch to obey the law and respect civil rights is "shortsighted," according to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. "Overreaching" is a good description of the president's asserted power to wiretap the conversations of American citizens on American soil without a warrant, but Gonzales accused a court of "overrreaching" when it declared the administration's warrantless surveillance program unconstitutional.

Gonzales and Cheney's attacks on the court order came as the administration was urging the lame-duck Congress to approve legislation authorizing the warrantless surveillance. The bill's chances are in doubt, however, because of Democratic opposition in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to end debate and vote.

Gonzales wouldn't "speculate" about the administration's response if Congress doesn't give the president the power he craves. Of course he wouldn't. He knows that the administration will continue the surveillance program with or without congressional approval -- and will probably ignore "overreaching" court decisions that attempt to stifle the president's lust for power. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/18/20290/908
[Georgia 10] Apparently, those of us who believe in this definition of freedom are a national security threat. . . .

Gonzales told about 400 cadets from the Air Force Academy's political science and law classes that some see the program as on the verge of stifling freedom rather that protecting the country.

"But this view is shortsighted," he said. "Its definition of freedom one utterly divorced from civic responsibility is superficial and is itself a grave threat to the liberty and security of the American people."

"Grave threat." It's a heavy phrase, one traditionally reserved only for Iran, post-invasion Iraq, and North Korea.

This demonization of ideas which don't square with the notion of an imperial presidency is a failsafe tactic employed by this administration whenever it happens to find itself on shaky legal and ethical footing--which is to say, it's employed quite often. Criticism of the war was dangerous, as now, the mere idea that the government should be obey the Fourth Amendment is a "grave threat" to national security.

Call for oversight and lawfulness in domestic spying do pose a "grave threat"--to the powerful, that is. For it is they who are now finding themselves squirming in court to defend their actions, and it is their job security (and liberty) which is threatened by dissent and calls for investigations.

The day the two towers fell, a fifth column was erected in the eyes of our government. For them, the greatest impediment to the war on terrorism launched that day was never bearded men wagging their fingers on grainy videotapes and promising streets filled with blood, but a vocal citizenry fiercely dedicated to enforcing the rule of law. . . [read on]

The Republicans blasted the filibuster as something sinister when they held the majority -- and even threatened the “nuclear option” of changing the Senate rules to make it illegal. Will it surprise you to hear that now that they’re soon to be in the minority they’re singing a very different tune?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/gop-senate-leader-mitch-mcconnell-give.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9100.html

After carefully cultivating the Latino vote, it only took the Republicans one election to blow it

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/latinos-quit-gop-in-2006.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9103.html

Actually, I hope the Republicans KEEP James Inhofe (R-OK), global warming crackpot, as their ranking member on the Senate Environment committee

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010256.php

The Democrats have a real opportunity to change business as usual in Washington. Will they?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19ethics.html
Their initial proposals, laid out earlier this year, would prohibit members from accepting meals, gifts or travel from lobbyists, require lobbyists to disclose all contacts with lawmakers and bar former lawmakers-turned-lobbyists from entering the floor of the chambers or Congressional gymnasiums.

None of the measures would overhaul campaign financing or create an independent ethics watchdog to enforce the rules. Nor would they significantly restrict earmarks, the pet projects lawmakers can anonymously insert into spending bills, which have figured in several recent corruption scandals and attracted criticism from members in both parties. . .

Go!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111801001.html
After retrieving control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years, Democrats will set out to redefine the domestic agenda through policies they say would address the economic needs of middle- and working-class Americans. . .

Where do the Dems start their investigations? Here’s a good list

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010259.php
[Ron Suskind, who knows] (a) the energy industry, (b) lying to Congress about domestic issues like global warming and Medicare, (c) lying to the public about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman, (d) nonterrorists who have been subjects of warrantless wiretaps, and (e) continued incompetence in the intelligence community.

More like this please

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005209.html
[AP] Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee next year, asked the Justice Department to release two newly acknowledged documents, which set U.S. policy on how terrorism suspects are detained and interrogated.

The key role of women in the Democrats’ victory

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/18/164151/94

Why the Dems’ 2006 victory will resonate for years

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116363508819546221

The best and worst of 2006

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/18/best_and_worst_of_election_2006.html

More on Michael Steele, rising GOP star (and he’s Black!)

The myth: http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/19/05647/409

The reality: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=598&sid=979655

Fair and balanced?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611170014
[Jamison Foser] Elections rarely present perfect tests of progressivism versus conservatism. But they are the best way we have of keeping score, and the scoreboard shows that progressives won a resounding victory last week.

Given the magnitude of that victory -- just two years after the media told us that Democrats had become a permanent minority, they won control of both houses of Congress, a majority of governorships, and denied Republicans the pickup of a single congressional district -- we might expect the media to praise the strategic brilliance of the Left, just as they spent much of the past six years lavishing praise on Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman. . .

Given the magnitude of the Republicans' loss, we might expect the journalists and pundits who have so mercilessly mocked Democrats as bumblers and fools, the political equivalent of the Washington Generals, to turn their snide comments and patronizing jokes on the GOP. . . . Better yet, given the thumpin' the GOP took at the hands of progressives -- and given the public's giddy reaction to the election results -- we might expect a rash of news reports about how out of touch the Republican Party is; how its far-right agenda has been rejected; how the GOP is now a regional party, unable to appeal to voters outside of the deep South.

Certainly the Republicans' reaction to last Tuesday's shellacking only feeds into such a narrative. Surveying the smoldering wreckage of the Republican Party . . . and presumably noting that the only one of the "big six" Senate races they won was the one in which they leveled what were widely seen as transparently racist attacks on the Democratic candidate, the Senate Republican caucus chose as its new second-in-command the party's most famous racist, Trent Lott.

We all know how the pundits would chortle if Democrats took an electoral thumpin', then responded by elevating their most liberal members to the party leadership. We'd hear how their policies and their demeanor were anathema to "real Americans" -- and how their reaction to defeat shows just how clueless these effete liberals are.

But those waiting for similar treatment of the GOP at the hands of the nation's political reporters and pundits shouldn't hold their breath. It isn't coming. . .

It's easy enough to look past the obvious, if unintentional, double standard. After all, if the public isn't well-served by the sort of inane, substance-free mockery and derision to which the media have subjected progressives in recent years, such treatment of conservatives would merely even the score, not necessarily constitute a move toward more responsible treatment of serious issues. So we might see the lack of sophomoric taunting as a positive.

That would be a mistake. The political media aren't becoming more responsible; they're simply continuing to direct their scorn at Democrats and progressives. Just this week, media have hyped purported Democratic disarray while downplaying or ignoring altogether GOP infighting; falsely suggested that Nancy Pelosi is as unpopular as President Bush; asserted that Democrats -- who do not yet actually control Congress and won't until next year -- are "starting to feel some of the pressure" of catching Osama bin Laden without explaining how Bush and the GOP let him get away; and suggested that Nancy Pelosi, who hasn't even become speaker of the House yet, is already "damaged goods." . . .

More: http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3591

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111801033.html
FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson.

NEWSMAKERS (C-SPAN): Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.).

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Rangel.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens.-elect James Webb (D-Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.); Reps. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.); Sameer Shaker Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations; Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute; former Pentagon official Kenneth L. Adelman; former White House speechwriter David Frum; and author Seymour Hersh.

Bonus item: Awwww. . . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19rove.html
Karl Rove, the top White House political strategist, is coming off the worst election defeat of his career to face a daunting task: saving the president’s agenda with a Congress not only controlled by Democrats, but also filled with Republican members resentful of the way he and the White House conducted the losing campaign. . .

White House officials say President Bush has every intention of keeping Mr. Rove on through the rest of his term. And Mr. Rove’s associates say he intends to stay, with the goal of at least salvaging Mr. Bush’s legacy and, in the process, his own. . .

Things have not gotten off to a great start since the election. Democrats are taking Mr. Rove’s continued influence at the White House — as well as some of its recent moves, like nominating conservative judges for the federal bench — as a sign that Mr. Bush’s conciliatory pledges of bipartisanship will prove to be fleeting. . .

Republicans on Capitol Hill said anger ran deep over Mr. Bush’s decision to announce the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld one day after the election instead of weeks before, when some say it could have kept the Senate in their party’s hands and limited Democratic gains in the House. Mr. Rove was among those at the White House who had argued that to announce Mr. Rumsfeld’s resignation before Election Day would have been tantamount to affirming criticism that the war in Iraq was failing, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

“There is lingering resentment on that,” Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, said of the timing of the announcement. Asked if he expected the White House to take as much of a lead in setting the Congressional agenda as it had in the past, Mr. Flake responded flatly, “No, I don’t.”

More broadly, many Republicans say they blame Mr. Rove for failing to heed warnings that the war was hurting their campaigns, as the president and the vice president continued making the case for it on the stump . . .

The White House seems aware of the apparently limited influence in Congress of Mr. Rove, the aide most closely identified with Mr. Bush. Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff, was dispatched to the Hill this week to hold meetings with members, suggesting that he is likely to play a more prominent role. . .

Awww. . . (part two)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111801076.html
The weekend after the statue of Saddam Hussein fell, Kenneth Adelman and a couple of other promoters of the Iraq war gathered at Vice President Cheney's residence to celebrate. The invasion had been the "cakewalk" Adelman predicted. Cheney and his guests raised their glasses, toasting President Bush and victory. "It was a euphoric moment," Adelman recalled.

Forty-three months later, the cakewalk looks more like a death march, and Adelman has broken with the Bush team. He had an angry falling-out with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld this fall. He and Cheney are no longer on speaking terms. And he believes that "the president is ultimately responsible" for what Adelman now calls "the debacle that was Iraq."

Adelman, a former Reagan administration official and onetime member of the Iraq war brain trust, is only the latest voice from inside the Bush circle to speak out against the president or his policies. Heading into the final chapter of his presidency, fresh from the sting of a midterm election defeat, Bush finds himself with fewer and fewer friends. Some of the strongest supporters of the war have grown disenchanted, former insiders are registering public dissent and Republicans on Capitol Hill blame him for losing Congress. . .

More: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/061120ta_talk_goldberg

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:35 AM

 
LEARNING FROM HISTORY

57,000 more troops to Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq
More than 3 1/2 years into the war, the Army and Marine Corps are straining to keep a steady flow of combat and support forces to Iraq while giving the troops sufficient time between deployments for rest and retraining.

Both services are far short of their goal of providing two years between deployments; the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry, for example, will have spent barely more than 12 months at home when it returns next year. The same is true for the division's 1st Brigade . . .

Uh, err: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/centcom-commander-more-troops-bad-idea.html
[General John Abizaid] I met with every divisional commander, General Casey . . . General Dempsey . . . And I said, in your professional opinion, if we were to bring in more American troops now, does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq? And they all said no. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/17/201342/67

This is what happens when you take advice from Henry Kissinger

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9093.html

Yes, “stay the course” REALLY DOES mean “stay the course”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/17/AR2006111701638.html

Don’t ask, don’t tell

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601615.html
A man who worked in Iraq for a Herndon-based security company is accused in a lawsuit of firing twice into Iraqi civilian vehicles last summer without provocation, possibly killing at least one person.

Two co-workers who witnessed the shootings say in the suit that there has been no investigation, even though they reported the incidents.

All three men worked for Triple Canopy, a corporation formed in 2003 by former military men to provide security in the Middle East for the United States government and private companies. Triple Canopy was the ninth-largest contractor for the U.S. State Department in fiscal 2005, with payments totaling more than $90 million, government records show.

That sum does not include what Triple Canopy is paid by private firms such as KBR, formerly Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. that is involved in rebuilding in Iraq. Former Army Ranger Shane Schmidt, former Marine Charles L. Sheppard III and their shift leader were all working on an assignment for KBR when the shootings occurred near Baghdad on July 8, alleges the suit, filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court.

Schmidt and Sheppard say they reported the shootings to Triple Canopy. Instead of investigating, the men allege, Triple Canopy fired them . . .

Nicely said

http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/blame_the_iraqis/
[Matt Yglesias] The neoconservative approach to Iraq has always been marked by a remarkable combination of overoptimism about social and political conditions in Iraq with a not-so-well-veiled racist contempt for Arabs. Obviously, however, one of the major elements of Iraqi society that's made reconstructing it into a democracy under our tutelage is that Iraqis have not felt that it would be a good idea to surrender supreme power over their lives to a foreign occupying force led by people who, rather transparently, don't give a damn about them. . . .

Rove leaving the White House?

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/17/rove-departure/

[NB: The blogosphere has received this report with skepticism, but it makes sense to me: time to hook up with McCain or Romney or whichever next train he plans to ride. The next two years in the Bush WH look like an empty, frustrating waste of time – with the albatross of Iraq hanging on everyone’s neck. Rove has maintained the reputation as a genius by carefully distancing himself from failures (even his own failures). Plus, if there is anything to the Abramoff/Ralston scandal, the pattern of these guys has always been: quit BEFORE the story breaks]

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/08/bush-snipes-at-rove-i-o_n_33684.html
THE PRESIDENT: I obviously was working harder in the campaign than he was. . . .

The tentacles of the Abramoff scandal continue to spread

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7821

Glad to see the House Republicans were so happy with the performance of their leaders in prepping for the election that they kept them on (too bad we couldn’t keep Frist in the Senate as well)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011180
[Roy Blunt] “For twelve years, the Democrats have gotten away without leading, without offering an agenda, and without saying what they’re actually for. Now they will be forced to govern.

“Under this Republican leadership, the job of the Minority Whip will no longer be to go to the House floor every day and lose. Instead, each time we hold our team together and force the Democrats to vote like Democrats, we’ll be taking one more step toward recapturing our majority in 2008.

“One-hundred-forty-nine Democrats demonstrated yesterday that they are willing to buck Nancy Pelosi. We’ll work each day to give those Democrats a viable alternative to her liberal, San Francisco agenda."

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/gop-keeps-same-house-leaders-theyre.html

NOW they tell us

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/15/opinion/meyer/main2182755.shtml
[Dick Meyer] This is a story I should have written 12 years ago when the "Contract with America" Republicans captured the House in 1994. I apologize.

Really, it's just a simple thesis: The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. Together, they comprised one of the oddest legislative power cliques in our history. And for 12 years, the media didn't call a duck a duck, because that's not something we're supposed to do. . . .

[NB: Yeah, well, thanks for nothing. It’s easy to write this story once they’re out of power, isn’t it?]

Just remember: before Alberto Gonzales, there was Ed Meese

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116380895552927657

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011190
[David Kurtz] This is as depressing a statement on American liberty and justice as anything I have read these last six years. . .

Meese is not a has-been from the Reagan years. He has been a key advisor to the current White House on the nominations and confirmations of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. This is a man who is widely considered to be at the pinnacle of the powerful conservative legal movement. This is what we have come to.

Update: Meese is also a member of the Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group, readers have reminded me. . .

The kind of people they are

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9089.html
[Michael J.W. Stickings] Grover Norquist on Don Sherwood, the Pennsylvania Republican who lost his House seat to Chris Carney and whose mistress accused him of choking her: “Bob [sic] Sherwood’s seat would have been overwhelmingly ours, if his mistress hadn’t whined about being throttled.” (via Pandagon)

Glenn Beck to Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress: “[Y]ou are a Democrat. You are saying, ‘Let’s cut and run.’ And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.’” (via Media Matters)

And, of course, various right-wingers want to blow up the State Department.

(And I haven’t even mentioned Coulter or Malkin.)

Nice, huh?

Laura Ingraham, pushing hard for the Ann Coulter crown

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/11/17/pat-leahy-wants-to-investigate-laura-ingraham/
Pat Leahy at a hearing on voter fraud all but demanded that the Justice Department investigate and even prosecute Laura Ingraham for her election-day call to her listeners to jam the phone lines Democrats set up for reporting voter machine problems and the like. . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116380077999556742

SO dumb

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9097.html
[Sen. James Inhofe, R-OK] Now look, God’s still up there. We still have these natural changes, and this is what’s going on right now. . . .

If the northern hemisphere is warming up, it’s not due to manmade gases. And that’s what these people all come to the conclusion. And yet the other side, the far left, the George Soros, the Hollywood elitists, the far left environmentalists on the committee that I chair — all of them want us to believe the science is settled and it’s not.

By the way, there’s all kinds of new things. Gretchen, you’ll enjoy this. Get your violin out and get ready. They came out with a great discovery just a few weeks ago. And this came from the geophysical research letters and you know what they said? Hold on now! They said the warming is due to the sun. Isn’t that remarkable? . . .[read on!]

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/18/1473/1517

That liberal media

http://www.nydailynews.com/11-17-2006/news/politics/story/472181p-397307c.html
Democrats unanimously chose Nancy Pelosi as House speaker, but she still came away a loser . . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_12_atrios_archive.html#116377965704226424
[David Ignatius] The new House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, had a disastrous post-election week in which her first priority seemed to be settling scores rather than solving these big problems. Shame on her!

[Atrios] I know I'm just an idiot with a cable modem and David Ignatius gets to write for the Washington Post, but for the record the Speaker of the House is currently Dennis Hastert. He's running the show. The Democrats don't take control for another couple of months. If big problems aren't being solved, it's because Dennis Hastert isn't trying to solve them. The Democrats had leadership elections, as did the Republicans. People took sides in those elections. That's pretty normal stuff. Some people won, and some people did not. The Republicans had an incredibly divisive election in the Senate in which John McCain's favorite segregation-loving candidate won by one vote. It's a real shame that McCain, who is currently in the majority in the Senate, apparently spent time on this stuff instead of solving the Big Problems, but hey that's how things apparently work. There's an election which is immediately followed by leadership elections. Then the new leadership takes control in January. This stuff happens every two years. It's not that complicated.

More: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_12_atrios_archive.html#116377753353448752

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/beltway-attacks-on-nancy-pelosi.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611180002

In 2008, 21 of the 33 contested Senate seats will be held by Republicans

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010251.php

Michael Steele (R who posed as a D - MD), a rising star for the Republicans. Well, you can see why

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611170005

For John Sweeney (R-NY), accused of wife-beating, things CAN get worse

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002007.php

The Republican party: masters of fiscal prudence

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2080.html
[WP] The Bush administration's proposal to secure the nation's borders with a high-tech "virtual fence" is likely to cost far more than the $2 billion that industry analysts initially estimated, possibly up to $30 billion, a government watchdog agency warned yesterday.

[Robert Farley] Wow. One would almost think that the fence is a giant boondoggle designed to mollify anti-immigration conservatives (including Lou Dobbs and Mickey Kaus) while pouring money into the pockets of big defense contractors.

Why the Republicans really don’t want to reduce the number of abortions

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010253.php

Hypocrisy?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/17/quote_of_the_day.html
[John McCain] "Hypocrisy, my friends, is the most obvious of political sins -- and the people will punish it. . .”

Yep: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/washington/22detain.html

More hypocrisy: http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_12_atrios_archive.html#116381268834467946




More like this, please

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011188
[David Kurtz] Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said President Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security is dead. "Don't waste our time," Baucus said. "It's off the table." . . .

Inside baseball: Fascinating struggle for chair of the important House Intelligence Committee. Looks like it won’t be Jane Harman (CA), but it may not be (formerly impeached) Alcee Hastings (FL) either. Silvestre Reyes (TX) as a compromise candidate?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9094.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/17/15445/570

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/17/111643/39

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010252.php

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2066.html

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2089.html

Yes, the Republicans lost and yes, there was still rampant e-voting manipulation

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/11/group_claims_2006_election_was_hacked.html

Why, why, why, do these people keep thinking technology is a security savior?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/new-super-secure-computer-chip-in-uk.html
[John Aravosis] New super-secure computer chip in UK passports cracked, all info available to anyone . . .

Bonus item: Thank goodness for post 9-11 security measures. We’d never have foiled this plot otherwise

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/funniest-cnn-moment-ever.html
[John Aravosis] I hate to laugh, because it's a horrible story, but CNN a short while ago reported on a horrific plot to kill all 9 Supreme Court justices, members of the military, and more. Apparently, some incredibly sick woman mailed homemade cookies and chocolates to all 9 justices, and members of the military, and the goodies contained enough rat poison to kill half of Kentucky.

CNN's reporter then dutifully informs us that, fortunately, the killer cookies and candies never got to the justices because of increased security measures adopted after September 11. She then goes on to note that part of the credit for the court's crack security team having foiled this plot also goes to notes included with the cookies and candies saying the following . . .

“I am going to kill you. This is poisoned”

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:08 AM

 
THEY’VE LEARNED NOTHING

Wow, what a disaster: the US is now considering taking sides in the Iraq civil war

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005205.html

In Afghanistan, things are back to usual

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501622.html
Al-Qaeda's influence and numbers are rapidly growing in Afghanistan, with fighters operating from new havens and mimicking techniques learned on the Iraqi battlefield for use against U.S. and allied troops. . . Hayden told the Senate panel that the Taliban, aided by al-Qaeda, "has built momentum this year" in Afghanistan and that "the level of violence associated with the insurgency has increased significantly." He also noted that Karzai's government "is nowhere to be seen" in many rural areas where a lack of security is affecting millions of Afghans for whom the quality of life has not advanced since the U.S. military arrived in October 2001. . . .

Cutting off the head of Al Qaeda?

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2058.html
[Spencer Ackerman] Never let it be said that CIA Director Michael Hayden isn't shrewd. Knowing that media coverage of yesterday's Senate testimony will focus overwhelmingly on General John Abizaid's call for eternal war in Iraq, he discreetly dropped this bombshell about al-Qaeda:

Hayden said [al-Qaeda] had lost a series of leaders since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But the losses have been "mitigated by what is, frankly, a pretty deep bench of low-ranking personnel capable of stepping up to assume leadership positions."

OK, so on the one achievement that Bush can claim about the war against al-Qaeda -- the percentage of al-Qaeda's leaders killed and captured -- the director of the CIA finally acknowledges that the measurement is meaningless. . .

More to suggest that the “Iraq Study Group” is a sham

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/11/james_bakers_ir.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/17/34837/119
President Bush said Friday the United States' unsuccessful war in Vietnam three decades ago offered lessons for the American-led struggle in Iraq. . . . "We'll succeed unless we quit," Bush said . . .

Slowly, quietly, the DoD “braintrust” who brought us the wonderful war in Iraq (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cambone) are being put out to pasture. And let’s not forget General Jerry “my God is bigger than your god” Boykin

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/11/the_coming_purge_at_defense_in.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601429.html

How Bush reduces hunger in America

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501621.html
The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security."

Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food, and it has consistently used the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.

Mark Nord, the lead author of the report, said "hungry" is "not a scientifically accurate term for the specific phenomenon being measured in the food security survey." . . . .

What the Republicans really think about their base

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011163.php
[Hotline] Examining the 2006 midterms, Putnam [R-FL] blamed the GOP defeat on “the independent vote, the women vote, the suburban vote.” He said that “heck, even the white rednecks who go to church on Sunday didn't come out to vote for us.”

More: http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2076.html

Tom DeLay: the gift that keeps on giving

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/16/121028/89
[Kos] Shelley Sekula-Gibbs was running for DeLay's seat as a write-in candidate. In a political stunt designed to improve her chances, Texas Republicans put her name on a special election line on the same ballot to finish out the remainder of her term. She "won" that election, and will serve out the rest of the lame-duck session, while Democrat Nick Lampson will take over the seat next year. . .

[Roll Call] The woman who was sworn in this week as the interim Republican successor to ex-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was, shall we say, not a hit with holdover DeLay aides.

In fact, they showed their feelings about their new boss Tuesday by walking out of the office en masse and resigning, effective immediately. . . .

She showed up to take over DeLay's old office on Thursday and, according to sources familiar the office dynamics, was "mean" to the staff. On Tuesday, at her new Member's open-house reception in the office, sources charged that she was less than pleased that neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney showed up with the rest of the welcome wagon, despite the fact that others who stopped by included Texas GOP Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn and Texas GOP Reps. Kevin Brady and Michael Burgess. (Apparently, according to sources, she was under the impression that the president of the United States would be there to greet the seven-week Congresswoman.)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011167
[AP] Just three days after being sworn in, U.S. Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs wants Congress to investigate the destruction of files in her office by former staff members of her predecessor, Tom DeLay. . . Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement Thursday that seven employees in her Washington office and the district office in Stafford, Texas, outside Houston, "deleted records and files without my knowledge or permission" before quitting. . . Sekula-Gibbs, who is serving out the last seven weeks of DeLay's term, said the walkouts were "suspicious" in that the seven took the time to delete files before leaving without notice.

On Nancy Pelosi: who said it?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011165
"She worked for years putting a strategy together, building a huge coalition. She held the Democrats together in the House like I have never seen before. She is going to change America!"

Nancy Pelosi’s next Big Fight: who will chair the House Intelligence Committee?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011169

More: http://makeashorterlink.com/?T2D91253E

The Guantanamo military tribunals? About as bad as you’d expect

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/gitmo-kangaroo-courts.html

Will the Dems do anything about it?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9090.html

More: http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3586

The Dems say they will take on vote fraud and suppression too

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/16/22414/656

Karl Rove, still in denial

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011151
[David Kurtz] Karl Rove is still wondering what happened to his votes, according to this account from incoming freshman Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). . .

Ain’t it the truth?

http://toohotfortnr.blogspot.com/2006/11/blackened-is-end.html
[National Review’s Rich Lowry] “Liberals cannot count on conservatives being associated with corruption, incompetence or an unpopular war forever.”

More proof that right-wingers can say ANYTHING on tv or radio and get away with it

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611150004
On the November 14 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck interviewed Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), who became the first Muslim ever elected to Congress on November 7, and asked Ellison if he could "have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect and I play the cards up on the table." After Ellison agreed, Beck said: "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " . . . .

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/cnn-host-asks-newly-elected-us.html

Nope, no problem here at all

http://mydd.com/story/2006/11/16/134450/66#23
[Republican Presidential aspirant] Mitt Romney Buys Clear Channel

Theocracy watch

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111601929.html
The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women." . . .

POST-election polls (America hates a loser)

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7809
The latest USA Today/Gallup poll drops Chimpy five points to a 33% approval rating while his disapproval rating soars to 62%, up six points in one short week. . . .

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7816
There's a new Pew Poll out today.

Bush Job Approval Rating: 32% (down 9 points, All-Time Low)

Bush Job Disapproval Rating: 58% (up 5 points, All-Time High)

Bonus item: Molly Ivins says farewell to Rummy (don’t miss it)

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=miv
According to Newsweek, Air Force Secretary Jim Roche went to Rumsfeld early on and said, "Don, you do realize that Iraq could be another Vietnam."

Replied Rummy: "Vietnam? You think you have to tell me about Vietnam? Of course it won't be Vietnam. We are going to go in, overthrow Saddam, get out. That's it." . . .

More: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml?start=17
Jon Stewart: see “Camera Three to Rummy”

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:36 AM

 
RUNNING BACKWARDS

Well, we’re about to see that much-anticipated revision of Iraq policy. . . . get ready for MORE troops to be sent there

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/world/middleeast/16policycnd.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1948748,00.html
President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning a troop withdrawal next year, he may increase US forces by up to 20,000 soldiers . . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011144

Great, just great

http://www.slate.com/id/2153924/
[Daniel Politi] The Washington Post . . . goes high with analysts who believe civil war has already begun in Iraq and now worry that a continuation of sectarian violence could spark several regional conflicts. If Iraq falls deeper into chaos, it would encourage neighboring countries to go in and fight as well. "The war will be over Iraq, over its dead body," one analyst said. . . .

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/16/03057/253

http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/abizaid-opposes-withdrawal-increase-in.html

Are we expecting too much from the Baker/Hamilton “Iraq Study Group”?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011140
[David Kurtz] Today's Washington Post reports that the Administration is doing its own policy review parallel to the ISG's, which does not suggest any kind of warm embrace . . . [read on]

More: http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3580

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_12.php#011128

On the Return of Jim Baker (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111406R.shtml

Oh yeah, the next couple of years will be interesting

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301221.html
After years of denials, the CIA has formally acknowledged the existence of two classified documents governing aggressive interrogation and detention policies for terrorism suspects, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

But CIA lawyers say the documents -- memos from President Bush and the Justice Department -- are still so sensitive that no portion can be released to the public. . . .

The ACLU describes the first as a "directive" signed by Bush governing CIA interrogation methods or allowing the agency to set up detention facilities outside the United States. . . . The second document is an August 2002 legal memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to the CIA general counsel. The ACLU describes it as "specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top al-Qaeda members." . . .

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_2051.html
[Spencer Ackerman] Last year, ABC News revealed a CIA memo detailing 16 permissible torture techniques. If the ACLU can obtain Yoo Two, we will know -- or at least know more -- how many of those were approved by the Justice Department, and under what legal justification. Of course, "legal" here is used very lightly: Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh once described Yoo's argument as "perhaps the most clearly erroneous legal opinion I have ever read." And we might never get to read Yoo Two, as the Bush administration and the CIA, predictibly, are fighting tooth and nail against its release. It's time for Patrick Leahy to subpoena that document, and demand that Bush, Yoo, Alberto Gonzales and George Tenet answer for it. . . .

Here’s all you need to know about Bush’s commitment to “bipartisanship”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html
[Dan Froomkin] Is Bush's claim that he wants to work in a bipartisan manner a genuine change -- or a ruse? Watch what he says -- but even more so, what he does. . .

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001767.php
[Steve Clemons] The President's team 'has a plan' regarding the seemingly irrational obsession with keeping John Bolton working at the United Nations.

We just don't know what that plan is. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote Bolton down, decisively and definitively, if called to vote this week.

Senators Bill Frist and Norm Coleman will probably then stomp around on the floor of the Senate bemoaning what Dems and a wayward Republican voice, calling for a revived centrist ethic, did to their poster child for crude, pugnacious nationalism.

Then, the White House -- angry at the rejection of Bolton -- could call an end to the bipartisan dance, accuse the Dems of obstructionism and try to "re-appoint" Bolton to his current job as a recess appointee -- thwarting not only the Senate that the White House strongly controlled this past year -- but also thwarting the next Congress that they control less well and with which they will have a tougher time finding common ground with this type of strident behavior. . . .

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/11/15/one-more-time-for-judicial-nominees/
After calling for bipartisanship, President Bush surprised Senate Democrats with plans to renominate a controversial list of judges – some of whom may be unacceptable even to a few Republican senators . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9074.html
[Steve Benen] Consider some of the names . . . [good overview]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/14/bush_reappoints_overseas_broadcast_chief/
President Bush on Tuesday renominated [Ken Tomlinson] the chairman of the agency that directs U.S. overseas broadcasts even though the nomination has been stalled in the Senate amid allegations of misconduct. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9070.html
[Steve Benen] It’s one thing to pick a partisan hack for an important governmental post, evaluate his joke of a tenure, and then move onto someone new. After all, maybe the president didn’t realize just how ridiculous Tomlinson was when the White House first tapped him.

But after several years of humiliating hackery, Bush no longer has any excuses. Renominating Tomlinson again this week is a not-so-subtle message to Democrats and the rest of the electorate: Election failures or not, nothing is going to change at the Bush White House. No partisan is too unqualified, no right-wing ideologue can screw up enough, no controversy is too scandalous to prevent a Bush buddy from keeping important administration positions. . .

Bush’s failure: not conservative ENOUGH?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116365697458797733

Undoing 40 years of conservative economic policy: the challenge to Dems

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116356458789550191

Oh-oh

http://www.slate.com/id/2153924
[Daniel Politi] As incoming House Democrats prepare to choose their leaders today, the Post fronts and the NYT goes inside with, more members of the party saying the bitter election campaign for the House leadership is strongly, and unnecessarily, dividing them. Everyone seems shocked Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi is fighting so hard for Rep. John P. Murtha to take the majority leader post. Pelosi is allegedly calling members into her office to discuss committee assignments, and promptly mentioning how she wants Murtha to get the position. For his part, Murtha didn't help his cause when he derided an ethics bill as "total crap."

Creating all of this bitter division before they even come to office has left members of both parties "straining to understand Ms. Pelosi's strategy," says the NYT. The Post, however, emphasizes this shows the deep animosity Pelosi holds toward Murtha's rival, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, whom she has known for more than 40 years. . . .

Abramoff: more trouble for Rove?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/16/13657/012

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/16/04320/002

Fox News: everything you thought, and worse

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/14/fox-news-internal-memo-_n_34128.html
[Fox’s VP of the news division] “Be On The Lookout For Any Statements From The Iraqi Insurgents . . . Thrilled At The Prospect Of A Dem Controlled Congress” . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9065.html

Which so aptly brings us to our next topic. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9066.html
[Steve Benen] Back in April, the Center for Media and Democracy released a report showing that corporations are producing fake-news segments — which amount to little more than mini-informercials masquerading as actual news — and TV stations are running them as if they were actual news reports, never disclosing the corporate role to viewers.

The Center found that 77 stations nationwide had aired fake-news. What’s more, the report documented examples of stations’ reporters or anchors reading scripts supplied by the corporations, and in some instances, stations added their logo to the propaganda to make the segments appear more like actual news. The FCC, to its credit, began an investigation.

That was in the spring. Given the negative publicity and potential FCC punishment, one might assume the deceptive practice might, at a minimum, be curtailed temporarily. Alas, the problem is getting worse. . .

Reviewing the state-level races: more good news for the Dems

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/15/14221/236

We knew this might happen (and now it has)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/15/115716/58
[Kos] Down in Florida, an epic battle is brewing over the electronic . . . voting machines that ate 18,000 votes for Democrat Christine Jennings in FL-13 and cost her the election.

Not only is an expensive recount in the cards, but campaign and DCCC lawyers are flocking down, demanding the state freeze the machines for inspection.

These are the opening salvos in what will be the battle to end Diebold. . .

Update: No one will confirm, but word is that the DCCC and the Jennings campaign are considering suing for a brand new election.

Update II: Machines in FL-13 were made by ES&S. Same difference.

Theocracy watch (backlash edition)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401176.html
Concerned that the voice of science and secularism is growing ever fainter in the White House, on Capitol Hill and in culture, a group of prominent scientists and advocates of strict church-state separation yesterday announced formation of a Washington think tank designed to promote "rationalism" as the basis of public policy. . .

Bonus item: Joke of the day

http://blogs.chron.com/whitehouse/archives/2006/11/bush_travels_1.html
Q: How is Vietnam different from Iraq?

A: Bush had a plan for getting out of Vietnam.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:55 AM

 
WE’RE BACK

Well, it’s been a little over a week with no laptop and no blog.

Did I miss anything?

Back on track now, and working to catch up on everything that’s happened. I think my favorite moment was Bush admitting that he’d already decided to fire Rumsfeld when he told the press that Rumsfeld would serve until the end of his term. His explanation for the lie was vintage

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061108-2.html
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Last week you told us that Secretary Rumsfeld will be staying on. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Right. No, you and Hunt and Keil came in the Oval Office, and Hunt asked me the question one week before the campaign, and basically it was, are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the Vice President? And my answer was, they're going to stay on. And the reason why is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer.

The truth of the matter is, as well -- I mean, that's one reason I gave the answer, but the other reason why is I hadn't had a chance to visit with Bob Gates yet, and I hadn't had my final conversation with Don Rumsfeld yet at that point. . .

I had been talking with Don Rumsfeld over a period of time about fresh perspective. . . . And so he and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so the decision was made -- actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday. Shows what I know. But I thought we were going to be fine in the election. My point to you is, is that, win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee. . . .

Q Mr. President, thank you. Can I just start by asking you to clarify, sir, if, in your meeting with Steve and Terry and Dick, did you know at that point --

THE PRESIDENT: I did not.

Q -- you would be making a change on Secretary Rumsfeld?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I did not. And the reason I didn't know is because I hadn't visited with his replacement -- potential replacement.

Q But you knew he would be leaving, just not who would replace him?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn't know that at the time.

Bill Frist (R-TN), on his way out and irrelevant, suddenly decides to start telling the truth

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/14/frist-iraq/
SEAN HANNITY: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. All right, Senator, let’s first say — what do you think happened a week ago?

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Well, Sean, I think it’s been reviewed many, many times. And, clearly, number one, the fact that we were not winning in Iraq . . .

You know I keep going back and forth on this, but I’m not sure Bush is going to make any significant change to his Iraq policy at all – this “fresh start” with Bob Gates, his meetings with the Baker-Hamilton commission, all seem to be about buying time until things stabilize in Iraq or some other event deflects attention from the mess it has become

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/washington/14policy.html
President Bush spent more than an hour on Monday with the independent panel examining strategic options for Iraq, and cautioned afterward that while he was open to new ideas, it was important for “people making suggestions to recognize that the best military options depend upon conditions on the ground.” . . .

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7788
[Tony Snow] "The strategy for victory is working."

[Holden] What would it look like if the strategy for victory was failing? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3571

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301058.html

We won’t negotiate with terrorists (but Fox News will)

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/someone-allegedly-paid-terrorist.html
[John Aravosis] Someone, on behalf of FOX News, reportedly gave terrorist organizations $2m that the terrorists now say they used to buy weapons to kill Israelis? FOX says "it's possible" money was paid to terrorists? And the Bush administration, they were heavily involved in this effort to free the FOX reporters - were they aware that someone was paying off terrorists? Were they the ones who arranged the payment? This is abominable if true. . .

Dissed!

http://www.newstatesman.com/200611130015
[Andrew Stephen] The White House knew the game was up as early as last Monday morning. Its schedule that day, distributed to the White House media pool, showed that Charlie Crist - the 50-year-old moderate Republican candidate hoping to succeed Jeb Bush, Dubbya's younger brother, after his maximum two terms as Florida's governor - would introduce the 43rd US president at a campaign rally in Pensacola, for which Bush was flying in specially on Air Force One.

But Crist, much to Bush's rage, had done a bunk: he simply could not face the prospect of election-eve footage of himself cavorting with Bush all over local television news that evening, and had hightailed it downstate to Palm Beach so that he would avoid even being seen side by side with him. Bush thus found himself at a campaign rally, attended by 10,000 excitable Republicans, with nobody actually to campaign for - other than Katherine Harris, 49, the disastrous senatorial candidate whom the Republicans had long since abandoned and who had become such an embarrassment that she was not even allowed on the stage. (She was subsequently one of Tuesday evening's first Republican losers.)

Even Karl Rove, America's high priest of electoral smear tactics, was unprepared and visibly humiliated. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, Crist flew back north later to Jacksonville to appear at a rally with John McCain - currently the front runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. In that symbolic moment, Bush became the lame-duck president, contemptuously and publicly discarded even by his party; and 70-year-old McCain, as predicted here last year, became the anointed de facto Republican leader. . .

Karl Rove: boy genius no more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/11/13/BL2006111300496.html
[Dan Froomkin] How did Karl Rove get everything so wrong? And shouldn't we take anything he says from this point forward with a big grain of salt?

Rove's divide-and-conquer political strategy, his insistence that Republican candidates embrace the war in Iraq as a campaign issue, his supremely self-assured predictions of victory -- all were proven deeply, even delusionally wrong last week. . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116344588345650369

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011059.php

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/13/rove_bet_against_pollsters.html

Well, it’s clear that the Bush gang learned NOTHING about privileging cronyism over competence (Lucky for us)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011123.php
[David Kurtz] Bitterness and recrimination at the Republican National Committee about the White House's choice of Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) to chair the RNC, according to the Washington Times:

Some RNC members, already dismayed by last week's election that swept Republicans from control of Congress, expressed anger at the way Mr. Rove leaked his choice of Mr. Martinez immediately after a conference call in which the Florida senator's name was floated for the first time.

The Martinez selection also signals that the White House intends to make another run at immigration reform, the paper reported, with Martinez as the point person.

House Republicans are really going to love the White House pushing immigration reform through a Democratic Congress that it couldn't get from a Republican Congress. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/14/192637/00
[Kos] So Republican bloggers and radio shills are freaking out about good ol' Bush buddy Sen. Mel Martinez (the 15th least popular senator in the country) as RNC chair.

Except that he's not really in charge. Some dude named Mike Duncan will really be in charge. Martinez will just be the public face of the RNC to make people think Republicans don't hate brown people so much. Except, that they do . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011087.php
[Josh Marshall] Here's a topic I haven't seen sufficiently discussed yet: How many years did the GOP put itself back with the rising population of hispanic voters in this country by running pretty much their whole campaign on immigrant bashing?

The answer, I think, is a lot. And exit poll data suggests a big drop off for Republicans among hispanic voters. According to the CNN exit polls, the 2004 spread as 40% for Republicans, 53% for Democrats. This year it was 26% for the GOP and 73% for Democrats. . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/14/13586/060
[Jonathan Singer] This move cements the notion that the Republican Party is completely dedicated to style over substance. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9052.html
[Steve Benen] Martinez has only been in the Senate for two years, and he hasn’t done much to distinguish himself — except during the Terri Schiavo controversy. It was, as you may recall, Martinez’s office who distributed a talking-points memo around the Senate calling the tragedy a “great political issue” . . .

[NB: Great political instincts, huh?]

Of course, Martinez isn’t just a senator; he’s a former Bush cabinet official, having served as the head of HUD during the president’s first term. There, he distinguished himself by doing almost nothing. . .

Last Tuesday’s election results: a victory for science

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/14/16404/154

Florida: maybe the most corrupt voting system in the country (brought to you by another of the Bush clan, of course)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9062.html

More: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/recount-starts-in-very-suspicious-13th.html

Abramoff heads to prison, has more to tell

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/abramoff_report.html
The sources say Abramoff was about to provide information about Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, "accepting things of value" from Abramoff. . .

Just say Noe

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301305.html
A federal jury in Toledo concluded Monday that former Republican fundraiser and coin dealer Tom Noe swindled the Ohio government in a risky investment scheme . . . Jurors convicted Noe, 52, a former county chairman who helped raise more than $100,000 in 2004 for the Bush-Cheney ticket, of 29 of 40 counts, including theft, corruption and forgery. He faces at least 10 years in prison for stealing from the state workers' compensation fund and trying to hide his actions.

Noe's trial, with its vivid testimony of lined pockets and bogus transactions, made headlines . . .

What’s that line about people in glass houses?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_11_12_atrios_archive.html#116344198104784474
"I'm worried about bloggers," [Judith “WMD” Miller] said. "(A post) starts as a rumor and within 24 hours it's repeated as fact." . . . [read on!]

Bonus item: Schadenfreude

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/011121.php
Oh how the mighty have fallen. DeLay selling off campaign furniture and office supplies to raise funds. . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:23 AM

 
CRASHED

Wouldn't you know it -- the biggest week of the year and my laptop chooses this time to melt down on me. Plus, I'm out of the country and can't take care of repairs or replacement. I hope to get started up again next week, after the 15th, when I get back and can have things taken care of. Until then, be sure to vote and have a sip or two on me after the Democrats take the House.
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 4:59 PM

 
SPINNING DEFEAT

More fun from the neo-cons, suddenly distancing themselves from the bloody mess Bush has made of their beautiful little war

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116267427051734593
[Digby] First, there's Michael Ledeen, who sent his totally inexperienced 29 year old daughter to Bagdad to work as a financial advisor for the Coalition Provisional Authority in the early days of the invasion, blaming it on the bitches:

"Ask yourself who the most powerful people in the White House are. They are women who are in love with the president: Laura [Bush], Condi, Harriet Miers, and Karen Hughes." . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010006.php
[Kevin Drum] It’s worth saying very plainly what’s going on here: the neocons are using these interviews to make the case that neoconservatism is in no way to blame for the disaster in Iraq. If they had been in charge things would have been different.

This baby needs to be strangled in its crib. . .

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-all-fault-of-iraqi-people.html
[Glenn Greenwald] As ugly as it is to watch the war's prime architects and chief advocates pretend that they had nothing to do with this disaster, more despicable still are the ones who are blaming the Iraqi people for what has happened. . .

Who’s responsible for posting those nuclear weapons plans on the Internet? One man. . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/conservative-publication-bush-rep-mike.html
[Weekly Standard] Bush replied that he wanted the documents released. He turned to Hadley and asked for an update. Hadley explained that John Negroponte, Bush's Director of National Intelligence, "owns the documents" and that DNI lawyers were deciding how they might be handled.

Bush extended his arms in exasperation and . . . told Hadley to expedite the release of the Iraq documents. "This stuff ought to be out. Put this stuff out." . . .

Tell me another

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-061105saddam-story,1,5021291.story
After a three-month wait, the judges in Saddam Hussein's first trial for crimes against humanity are scheduled to deliver their verdict Sunday, just two days before U.S. voters go to the polls in closely contested congressional elections.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say the timing of the expected guilty verdict and sentencing is sheer coincidence. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010789
[JD] Saddam will likely be sentenced during the wee hours EST, in plenty of time to round up "experts" for the [Sunday] panel shows: "Despite the violent reaction we are seeing, this really is one of the key indicators of progress and ongoing commitment we have been looking for..." You know the drill. . . .

The momentum shifts (again)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15557264/site/newsweek/
[Newsweek] As President George W. Bush jets across Red State America this weekend, Republican candidates are falling further behind Democratic rivals, according to the new NEWSWEEK poll. While the GOP has lagged behind Democrats throughout the campaign season, the trend in the past month—when NEWSWEEK conducted four polls in five weeks—had suggested the Republicans were building momentum in the homestretch.

No more. The new poll finds support for Republicans (and for President Bush) receding. . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/04/republicans_bracing_for_major_hit.html
With 72 hours to go until Election Day, senior Republican strategists are bracing themselves for a blowout by Democrats . . .

More: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/04/cooks_last_forecast.html

Exit polls: a primer

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/4/135126/905

After the election. . . . the lawsuits to come?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/04/us/politics/04lawyers.html

Spinning defeat. As a Republican loss in the House becomes obvious to all (a circumstance inconceivable just a few months ago), the new spin is “Hey, no big deal. The Democratic victory is LESS than vote shifts in comparable years past, so really it’s a great success for the Republicans”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010008.php

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/4/22944/3379

On the Senate side, very hard to tell

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010803

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_11_05.php#010807

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/03/latest_senate_polls.html

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/4/235949/548
The New York Times says only two senate races remain a tossup: Missouri and Virginia.

The map is now on a razor’s edge with 49 seats leaning or safe for both the Democrats and for the Republicans.

The Democrats have a tougher battle because they need to reach 51 seats to take control . . .

Not much more purpose in dumping on Katherine Harris (R-Disneyworld) any longer, she’s done for. Still, it’s just so darn fun

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/gop-senate-candidate-katherine-harris.html
GOP Senate candidate Katherine Harris prays that Jews convert to Christianity
[John Aravosis] These people are off their rockers. And I've got the audio of Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) saying this.

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, who has made past comments that raised questions about her religious sensitivity, prayed in a telephone prayer service recently that God would "bring the hearts and minds of our Jewish brothers and sisters into alignment."

And here's the audio of Harris wishing that those damn Jews would just become Christians. Also, note Harris' creepy reference to "kingdom government" (or governance), which from context sounds like she thinks she's elected to be the Christian God's representative in Congress. . . .

The new dilemma for Republican pols (DeLay, Weldon): spend money on their (losing) campaigns, or save it for their legal fees later?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010790

Cheney’s folks still excluding people from his events whom they even SUSPECT of having ever voted for a Democrat

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8964.html

Bonus item: How desperate are they? (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/print?id=2626032
An ABC News undercover investigation showed Army recruiters telling students that the war in Iraq was over, in an effort to get them to enlist. . . .

"Nobody is going over to Iraq anymore?" one student asks a recruiter.

"No, we're bringing people back," he replies.

"We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 12:37 AM

 
REPUBLICANS GO CRAZY

Seriously. The prospect of losing when they really believed they would be in control forever seems to have driven them off the deep end. Today’s issue is all one big “the kind of people they are” festival

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2006/11/dole-dems-satisfied-with-losing-iraq.html
North Carolina GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, brushed aside suggestions the Iraq war would cause widespread GOP loses and said that the Democrat's plan for the war-torn country would increase the threat of terror to the United States. . . .

"For a person to think that voting for a Democrat for the Senate is going to fix the situation in Iraq makes no sense. . . [I]t seems that Democrats are saying they're satisfied or content with losing. . ."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010766
[Josh Marshall] One of the great entertainments to watch just before an upheaval election is list of candidates who want to make sure they lose their dignity ahead of losing their seat. Along those lines is Rep. Deborah Pryce, number four in the House leadership who's just announced that "What's happening in Iraq is not a direct reflection on me." And you know it's good because those were actually her prepared remarks her campaign sent CNN after the interview. During the live session, in the midst of answering, she wigged out and declared the interview over. . .

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/02/pryce.iraq/index.html
As she fights for her political life, Ohio Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce distanced herself Thursday from the Iraq war, telling CNN Radio, "What's happening in Iraq is not a direct reflection on me." . . . When pressed by CNN on whether her position as a House leader connected her to the volatile situation in Iraq, Pryce objected to the interruption of her remarks and said the interview was over. . . "Thanks, I'm done," Pryce said. She expressed frustration and walked away saying, "Maybe we'll call you later when I'm feeling better." . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010767
[Paul Kiel] Ahhh, John Sweeney [R-NY]. The police need his say-so to release the official report of the domestic abuse call that's derailed his campaign. And he says he wants to give it. But somehow, he just can't bring himself to do it. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010777
[Josh Marshall] The Glens Falls Post-Star, which endorsed Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) only days ago, has withdrawn its endorsement over the domestic violence incident and Sweeney's changing stories about what happened.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010764
[Paul Kiel] Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) provides a new model of scandal management -- when confronted with incriminating evidence by a reporter, snatch it away. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010763
[DK] New York City's only Republican congressman, Vito Fossella, has held five debates against his underfunded opponent, Democrat Steve Harrison, and is now running Dick Morris-inspired radio ads that claim Harrison cares more about protecting terrorists than New Yorkers . . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/rep-tom-reynolds-r-ny-again-says-sex.html
[John Aravosis] A rather defensive new interview on NPR with Cong. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), claiming, yet again, that Mark Foley's emails in which he's acting as a sexual predator on young boys is simply "overly friendly." . . . Reynolds then goes on to charge that he did nothing wrong, and that Democrats were the ones behind the entire scandal. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010770
[Paul Kiel] Oh, now it's personal. GOP attacks Dem challenger in Wyoming for being from New York. . .

[MS] When a campaign starts criticizing an opponent's "New York values" anywhere west or south of the Delaware River, it's a dogwhistle call to point out to voters that he's Jewish. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010769
[Paul Kiel] If you flip off the President, Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) will make sure you lose your job... and then lie about it.

More: http://makeashorterlink.com/?L1692391E

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/11/post_1878.html
[Ezra Klein] The [Rick] Santorum [R-PA] strategy isn't merely to deny that he's a conservative, it's also to affirm that he's a conservative! And a libertarian! And a progressive!

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8958.html
[Morbo] Scott L. Rolle is a Republican running for attorney general in Maryland. His candidacy is faltering, and polls show that Democrat Douglas F. Gansler is cruising to an easy victory.

How is Rolle reacting? Is he working overtime to connect with voters or retooling his campaign? Nope. He's quietly pushing a lawsuit to have Gansler removed from the ballot.

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_atrios_archive.html#116257645146694297
Today at an event in Hartford, at a senior center, Joe [Lieberman] “volunteers” swarmed the “stand up for change” bus and pressed their bodies against the vehicle, not allowing the doors to open and anyone to exit.

When the bus moved and the door was partially opened for Ned [Lamont] and staff, Joe’s “volunteers” rushed the bus again, violently screaming in the door. Ned was never able to make it off the bus and into the senior center. . .

It’s official: no report on the Foley scandal until after the election

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201695.html

Fake “progressive” group used as a front by Bush/Cheney operative

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001932.php

Bush: the Democrats have no plan for Iraq (of course, they also don’t have access to the military advice, the intelligence info, or the classified data that he does)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110300597.html

What is Bush’s plan?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/11/03/BL2006110300860.html
[Dan Froomkin] President Bush's foremost political liability going into the mid-term elections is that the American people aren't happy he took the nation to war in Iraq and don't believe he has a way out.

In other words, they think Bush made a mess and has no idea how to clean it up.

Now, in what may be the ultimate show of Karl Rovian chutzpah, Bush is righteously attacking Democrats for not having a plan to clean up the mess he himself made.

It's a classic Rove technique to attack his opponents' strengths from a position of weakness -- no matter how deficient his own candidate's position may be.

But in this case, the public seems to have already reached some pretty definite conclusions. . .

Here’s their plan: “victory” (whatever that means)

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5391

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3531
[Reuters] A senior U.S. general compared Iraq on Thursday to a "work of art" in progress. . . "A lump of clay can become a sculpture, blobs of paint become paintings which inspire," Major General William Caldwell, chief military spokesman, told his weekly Baghdad news briefing. . . "Every great work of art goes through messy phases . . .”

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_atrios_archive.html#116257190030443438
[Atrios] There have been 11 troop deaths in Iraq in November.

It's the third day in November. . .

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/7-more-us-troops-killed-in-iraq-today.html
It's a bloodbath. . .

http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/top-ten-ways-we-know-we-have-lost-in.html
[Juan Cole] Top Ten Ways you can tell we have lost in Iraq. . .

Whoa! Four military newspapers (Army Times, Air Force Times, Marine Corps Times and Navy Times) will run simultaneous editorials on Monday, calling for Bush to fire Donald Rumsfeld (thanks to Susan Madrak for the link)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn/detail?blogid=16&entry_id=10582

Even the neo-cons have lost faith

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_atrios_archive.html#116259091743440274
[Vanity Fair] A group of neoconservatives led by former chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee Richard Perle and former Pentagon insider Kenneth Adelman tell Vanity Fair contributing editor David Rose that they blame the “dysfunctional” Bush administration for the “disaster” in Iraq and say that if they had it to do over again they would not advocate an invasion of Iraq. . . .

No, before you stop laughing, read this one too

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003350110
So, Ahmad Chalabi, what went wrong in Iraq in the war you helped to sell? “The Americans sold us out,” he tells longtime Baghdad reporter Dexter Filkins in a lengthy cover story in this coming Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, reviewed by E&P.

Chalabi was the Iraqi exile who worked -- via everyone from Paul Wolfowitz to Judith Miller -- to convince America to topple Saddam in 2003 (not that many in the administration needed much convincing).

Now, in an interview in his London home, Chalabi, betraying what Filkins calls “a touch of bitterness,” declares, “The real culprit in all this is Wolfowitz,” the former assistant secretary of defense, whom he still considers a friend. “They chickened out. The Pentagon guys chickened out…The Americans screwed it up.” . . .

Why do our leaders hate democracy?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110301619.html
The Bush administration is determined to continue "full speed ahead" with its policy in Iraq. . . Vice President Cheney . . . said in an interview with ABC News that the administration is convinced that it is pursuing the right path in Iraq. . . "It may not be popular with the public. It doesn't matter . . .”

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/why-is-bush-so-afraid-of-our.html
[AP] A suspected terrorist who spent years in a secret CIA prison should not be allowed to speak to a civilian attorney, the Bush administration argues, because he could reveal the agency's closely guarded interrogation techniques.

Human rights groups have questioned the CIA's methods for questioning suspects, especially following the passage of a bill last month that authorized the use of harsh — but undefined — interrogation tactics.

In recently filed court documents, the Justice Department said those methods, along with the locations of the CIA's network of prisons, are among the nation's most sensitive secrets. Prisoners who spent time in those prisons should not be allowed to disclose that information, even to a lawyer, the government said. . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2006/11/beyond_kafka.php
[Mark Kleiman] Can you imagine a government so absurdly tyrannical, so brutally insane, that it forbids "enemies of the state" to complain about being tortured on the grounds that interrogation techniques are state secrets?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201489.html
Open-government advocates are howling this week over a newly released transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in April on topics including domestic wiretapping and surveillance, treatment of potential terrorists, and the president's power to declassify information.

During the session, Gonzales evaded most of the four dozen questions asked by Republican and Democratic members by claiming ignorance, or telling the committee -- which oversees the Justice Department -- that the answers were too secret to share. So frustrating was Gonzales's stonewalling that in closing the hearing, committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) lectured the attorney general: "I'm afraid that you have caused more questions to be put out for debate within the Congress and in the American public as a result of your answers. . . . We have not been treated as partners for whatever reason. . . . I am really concerned that the Judiciary Committee has been kind of put in the trash heap . . . "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110301427.html
Condoleezza Rice . . . has been on a media blitz that appears aimed mainly at conservative media outlets, particularly radio talk shows. Secretary of state is traditionally a nonpartisan position, and Rice's media itinerary differs sharply from the practice of her predecessors during election campaigns, according to State Department records.

Rice has given nine interviews on radio, starting with three appearances on Oct. 24 during "Radio Day," when 42 radio hosts, most of them conservatives, were invited to the White House to spread the administration's message to President Bush's political base. . .

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20061025-064205-6948r
'Total Information' lives again
The new U.S. intelligence czar is developing a computer system capable of data-mining huge amounts of information about everyday events to discern patterns that look like terrorist planning.

The technology is reminiscent of the axed Total Information Awareness program. . .

Hey good news! The fact that the Bush idiots posted Iraq’s nuclear designs on the web for all to see is a good thing. Why? Because it proves that Saddam had nuclear ambitions. . . except. . . .er. . . . uh. . . . the plans are pre-Gulf War I

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/4/45348/4151
[DarkSyde] * In the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, facing the embarrassment of no WMDs found, the White House found themselves in possesion of thousands of pages of Iraqi documents pertaining to obsolete WMD programs from before the first Gulf War

* To provide fodder for out of context quoting and neocon fear monergering, to save time and money on translating, and to retain a few votes, the Republican Congress with the cooperation of President Bush wanted to post the raw docs on the Internet and invite right-wing bloggers and web surfers to pitch in and read through it all to find any quotable gems.

* John Negroponte, bless his black little heart, had enough brains to oppose this incredibly asinine idea knowing full well that the data had not been read and vetted.

* Apparently, Bush the Decider, a guy who wouldn't know a neutron from a noble gas, reportedly decided to over ride expert advice and do it anyway.

* Buried in the stacks of dull inventories and mundane trivial minutia were the plans for how to fabricate and assemble the critical components of a working fission bomb.

http://instapundit.com/archives/033723.php
[Glenn Reynolds, “Instapundit”] Kind of undercuts that whole "Bush lied about WMD" thing. . . .

http://sideshow.me.uk/snov06.htm#11031618
[Avedon Carol] I just can't believe how dumb Glenn Reynolds has become. Look, Glenn, absolutely no one has ever claimed that there was never a time in history when Saddam Hussein had a nuclear weapons program. Never. We all knew he had. The question was, did he still have WMD as of 2002? And the answer, which we knew before we invaded Iraq in 2003, was: No. We knew it. He no longer had any nuclear capability. We had weapons inspectors on the ground - the sole purpose of the Iraq resolution as written was to get them there - and once the inspectors were in and were finding no WMD, we had no legal or rational reason to invade. None. That's it. It has nothing to do with whether he once had WMD programs. It is about whether he had them in 2003. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8950.html
[Steve Benen] The right can hardly contain their glee. They were right all along! How foolish does the left feel now!

Uh, no. . . The revelations aren't proof that Saddam had an active nuclear weapons program before we invaded in 2003; it's proof that he sought nuclear weapons before we invaded in 1991. Of course, we already knew that.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116257314001896631
[Digby] Andrea Mitchell just reported that the Secretary of State [Condi Rice] went on Laura Ingraham's wingnut propaganda show and said the "Army of Davids" documents proved that Saddam was working on a nuclear program. Lucky for us that Mitchell pointed out that the documents were from before the first Gulf War.

I understand that hacks like Limbaugh and Instapundit would try to pass this nonsense off to the neanderthal base, but for the Secretary of State to lower herself and her office to say such a thing is shocking. Even for these people. . .

Dan Bartlet's out there right now saying exactly the same thing. Mitchell corrected him, but this looks like the official party line. They really do think their base is completely braindead. They would know. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8956.html
[Steve Benen] I certainly don't envy the vaunted White House communications operation today. I mean, really — how does one explain carelessly publishing classified nuclear secrets online, over the advice of intelligence experts, to make some right-wing congressmen and blogs happy? . . . With just days remaining before the election, the GOP wants to suggest Dems are weak on defense while also explaining why Republicans undermined our national security for a vanity political project. What to do?

Apparently, lie. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/4/84521/3554

Dems call for investigation: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/dems-call-for-investigation-of-bush.html

Brits think Bush ranks slightly behind Osama Bin Laden, and ahead of Kim Jong-il, as a threat to world peace (thanks to Matt Rosenstein for the link)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1938434,00.html

Ted Haggard: the worst denial ever

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010773
[DK] Wow, in one of the all-time great "denials" Ted Haggard admits that a hotel referred him to his male escort accuser for a massage, but denies having sex with the man; admits to having purchased crystal meth from the accuser, but denies actually using the drug. . .

How his fellow evangelicals are treating the scandal

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/religious-right-leader-james-dobson.html

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/4/1103/23304

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116259997438418509
[Tristero] It is rather interesting to read some of the evangelical websites grapple with the Haggard story. And in a very real sense, the hypocrisy is simply mind-boggling. . .

How the White House is treating it: who? him?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010776
[Paul Kiel] White House on Reverend Haggard: Oh, he was just on "a couple of calls."

In fact: http://harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist-20061103288348488.html
Pastor Ted Haggard . . . who talks to President George W. Bush or his advisers every Monday, is a handsome forty-eight-year-old Indianan, most comfortable in denim. He likes to say that his only disagreement with the President is automotive; Bush drives a Ford pickup, whereas Pastor Ted loves his Chevy. In addition to New Life, Pastor Ted presides over the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), whose 45,000 churches and 30 million believers make up the nation's most powerful religious lobbying group, and also over a smaller network of his own creation, the Association of Life-Giving Churches, 300 or so congregations . . .

The press tends to regard Dobson as the most powerful evangelical Christian in America, but Pastor Ted is at least his equal . . . When Bush invited him to the Oval Office to discuss policy with seven other chieftains of the Christian right in late 2003, Pastor Ted regaled his whole congregation with the story via email. “Well, on Monday I was in the World Prayer Center”—New Life's high-tech, twenty-four-hour-a-day prayer chapel —“and my cell phone rang.” It was a presidential aide; “the President,” says Pastor Ted, wanted him on hand for the signing of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Pastor Ted was on a plane the next morning and in the President's office the following afternoon. “It was incredible,” wrote Pastor Ted. He left it to the press to note that Dobson wasn't there.

No pastor in America holds more sway over the political direction of evangelicalism . . .

Fox News, ever dependable . . .

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/foxs-election-weekend-propaganda.html
[Glenn Greenwald] Fox News has re-arranged its programming schedule this weekend -- why this weekend? -- in order to broadcast at five different times a genuinely demented fear-mongering propaganda film entitled "Obsession: The Threat of Radical Islam." The whole point of the film -- the only point -- is to show menacing footage of Muslims, accompanied by very scary music, and then assert, over and over, that they are devoted to killing all of us and that the threat they pose is exactly the same as the threat of Nazi Germany, except it's much, much worse. . .

But: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8952.html
Fox News is showing serious signs of aging, led by steep audience declines.

Fox News's total audience fell 24 percent in the past year . . .

Top media election myths

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611040007

Correction

http://sideshow.me.uk/snov06.htm#11031813
Thomas Nephew says the story of Alyssa Peterson, the interrogator who refused to torture and shortly thereafter killed herself, has been removed from the web. There may be questions about her alleged suicide, as well. . .

Bonus item: No comment

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010002.php
[Kevin Drum] This might be the most pathetic thing I've ever read. It's David Frum talking about George Bush:

I always believed as a speechwriter that if you could persuade the president to commit himself to certain words, he would feel himself committed to the ideas that underlay those words. And the big shock to me has been that although the president said the words, he just did not absorb the ideas. And that is the root of, maybe, everything.

Shorter David Frum: I used to think Bush was such an empty vessel that if I could just get him to parrot the words I wrote, they'd bounce around in his skull and become actual ideas for lack of any competition. Later, though, I finally realized why his skull was empty of serious ideas in the first place.

And, yes, this is the root of everything.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:52 AM

 
CHANGING THE TONE

Here’s the lie the Republicans hope will catch on: we want to win in Iraq, the other guys want to lose (thanks to Buzzflash for the link). For Bush’s ego, staying MEANS winning and changing course MEANS losing

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35335
[Bill Berkewitz] As the U.S. death toll in Iraq for the month of October passed 100 -- making it the deadliest month in nearly two years -- and with polls still showing that the Democratic Party is poised to take control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate, Republican Party message-meisters appear to have devised what they hope will be the money sound-bite for electoral victory.

Whether it is the brainchild of Frank Luntz, the pollster and longtime Republican messaging guru, or an idea that emanated from the offices of Bush advisor Karl Rove or Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, the "do you want us to win" question is clearly aimed at challenging the patriotism of critics of the war in Iraq. . .

It gets worse . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8942.html
[Steve Benen] Once in a great while, Bush says something so unbelievable, I have to wonder if he's an incredibly good liar or living in some kind of bizarro world in which reality has no meaning. . .

"I don't like the tone in Washington, D.C. I feel like that the politics has gotten ugly, and that tends to discourage people around the country. And that's just too bad.

"I would hope in my last two years I can — and, by the way, I've never really resorted to name-calling. And I'm not trying to say, well, you know, I'm innocent and everybody else is guilty. That's not what I'm trying to say. But I understand that it's one thing to disagree with a person, but it's another thing to have to resort to kind of shameless name-calling. And I really don't think it's fitting for the president to drag the presidency into that kind of a mudslinging."

You've got to be kidding me.

"Gotten ugly"? A few weeks ago, the president kicked the campaign season into high gear with some unusually bitter rhetoric. "We know the enemy wants to attack us again," Bush said, whereas Democrats "offer nothing but criticism and obstruction and endless second-guessing." Shortly thereafter, the president upped the ante, telling a partisan crowd, "If you listen closely to some of the leaders of the Democratic Party, it sounds like — it sounds like — they think the best way to protect the American people is, wait until we're attacked again." This week, Bush pushed the envelope to the breaking point, telling a crowd that Dems want terrorists to win.

"Drag the presidency into that kind of a mudslinging"? Bush is the first president to so blatantly use a war to smear his political opponents with unfair and untrue attacks. . .

No, this ISN’T politics as usual

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-outlook29oct29,1,2092767.column
[Ron Brownstein] As he often does when he's under political pressure, [Bush is] accentuating the disagreements between the parties and presenting the differences in the starkest possible terms. He's displayed that instinct most clearly in the highly charged way he has framed the debate over Iraq and the war on terrorism.

Bush now routinely labels Democrats "the party of cut-and-run." At a recent Republican fundraiser, Bush went much further. "The Democrat Party … has evolved from one that was confident in its capacity to help deal with the problems of the world to one that … has an approach of doubt and defeat," he declared. . .

Other wartime presidents have been much more reluctant to argue that only their party was committed to success. . .

Uh, doesn’t this sound like “stay the course” to you?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_atrios_archive.html#116247955840419870
[Atrios] Well, the preznit says Rumsfeld gets to keep his job forever. Nothing's going to change in Iraq, except that it will get worse. Bush has reaffirmed the Bush doctrine, which is that leaving is losing, and asserts that we have to stay there to babysit Dick Cheney's oil. . .

80% (!!) know “stay the course” when they see it

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/bush-made-it-clear-hes-staying-course.html
80 percent said Mr. Bush’s latest effort to rally public support for the [Iraq] conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy. . . .

Oh, christ

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005105.html
[E&P] U.S. Soldier Killed Herself After Objecting to Interrogation Techniques
Alyssa Peterson, a devout Mormon and Arabic-language interrogator "objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed . . .”

Yeah, what do we need an auditor in Iraq for?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03reconstruct.html
Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip. . .

The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation. . .

Who snuck it in there? http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/009989.php

Records? Destroyed?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001918.php

The gods must be laughing

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03documents.html?hp&ex=1162530000
Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb. . .

[NB: How these people have maintained the illusion of “competence,” and how the media has cooperated, is one of the bitter ironies of this period. NOTHING, not 9-11, not Katrina, not Iraq, not North Korea – and on and on – can change the underlying narrative. Hey folks, it’s simple – they can campaign and win, but they can’t govern]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8947.html

They’ve made us LESS safe

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/3/13652/3465

The kind of people they are

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_atrios_archive.html#116249252292770948
The president is the commander-in-chief. Donald Rumsfeld is the Defense Secretary. If the generals doing the wrong thing they can be told to change. Still, Rep. Boehner knows that nothing can ever be George Bush's or Don Rumsfeld's fault, because they aren't subject to the normal rules of human conduct. So, he blames the generals for the decisions of George W. Bush. And he won't apologize.

One imagines this will become the Republican's new line. As they did with the CIA on Iraq intelligence, they'll absolve themselves of responsibility by blaming the people who were trying to follow their insane directives. . .

How the Pentagon manipulates the media

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005104.html

Wake me from this nightmare

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/11/3/14213/4627
Convicted Abu Ghraib Abuser Sent Back to Iraq
[Jeralyn Merritt] If this weren't so totally disgusting, it would be comical. Time Magazine reports Sgt. Santos Cardona (holding the dog in the picture) is headed back to Iraq for another tour of duty -- this time to train Iraqi police . . .

Man, oh man, is Tony Snow bad at this

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8944.html
"[T]he troops need to understand not only do we support them, but most of the people who are on the battlefront today volunteered for service knowing what they were getting into, and knowing what the cause was.

You can't say, 'I support the troops, but I hate the cause,' because that's why they signed up. And you've got men and women who are risking their lives for what they consider a noble cause, which is not only defeating al Qaeda and defeating terrorists abroad, but also creating conditions that are going to allow people in that part of the world to brush aside terror as an unnecessary distraction to building a better life through free and democratic society."

[Steve Benen] It's almost amazing in the scope of its demagoguery, isn't it?

Think about the implications. Every man and woman who volunteers to wear the uniform necessarily supports the mission to which they've been sent. As such, it's necessarily true that if you criticize a war, you're criticizing servicemen and women.

My hat's off to you, Mr. Snow. You've taken hackery to a depth I hadn't thought possible. . . .

Keith Olbermann hits another home run

http://makeashorterlink.com/?F23F1261E
There is no line this President has not crossed — nor will not cross — to keep one political party, in power. . .

Go watch and vote for the funniest, dumbest, and nastiest campaign ads (thanks to Kos for the link)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15518247/

[NB: At first, I thought it was good that the Dems led the funniest nominees 2 to 1, and the Repubs led the dumbest and nastiest 2 to 1. But that means that we’ll be splitting our votes, and they won’t, so the Repubs will probably get their choices]

How they play it

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010760
[BR] Early voters in the heart of the heated race to succeed former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were greeted Wednesday with red and white signs that read: "Want more illegals? Vote Democrat" and "Encourage Terrorists. Vote Democrat."

[DK] The GOP paid for the signs.

John Podhoretz bemoans Charlie Rangel’s “uncivil” reference to Dick Cheney as a “son of a bitch.” Hell, that’s the NICEST thing I’ve heard Cheney called lately. And what about Podhoretz himself?

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/upstanding-john-podhoretz-warns-of.html

Uncivil? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3699-2004Jun24.html

More details on Republican woman-beaters

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010752
[Paul Kiel] Breaking from the AP -- details of the settlement between Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) and his mistress, who alleged years of abuse. $500,000 and stay quiet about it.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001922.php
[Paul Kiel] We've spent some time here cataloguing the myriad signs that point to a cover-up of Rep. Jim Gibbons' (R-NV) alleged assault of a cocktail waitress in a Las Vegas parking garage. But the mystery of the disappearing videotapes from surveillance cameras in the garage just has to take the cake. . . .

New disclosure on the Foley cover-up – the nation yawns

http://blogs.nydailynews.com/dailypolitics/archives/2006/11/exclusive_nrccs.php
[NY Daily News] Two senior aides to National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds participated in “damage control” conference calls concerning correspondence between Congressman Mark Foley and a former congressional page -- two days before the scandal became public, and earlier than previously reported.

NRCC Communications Director Carl Forti and Reynolds then chief-of-staff Kirk Fordham both took part in the first call the evening of Wednesday, September 27, and one call the next day, Forti and other sources familiar with the call confirmed. Forti's involvement and the NRCC's role in the run-up to the Foley scandal add another link between the disgraced former congressman and Reynolds, who has said he knew only indirectly of questionable emails, and that he reported them to his House superiors. They also reflect another moment at which House GOP leadership was aware of concerns about Foley and pages. . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010751

Michael Steele (hey CNN: R! – MD) denies that he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s a Republican, says he has a lot of black supporters (uh-huh)

http://mediamatters.org/items/200611030005

[NB: See that "D"? Thanks CNN]

Joe Lieberman’s $387,000 slush fund – what’s wrong with that? Quite a bit, as it turns out

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/2/115632/877

More: http://wilsonhellie.typepad.com/for_the_record/2006/11/liebermans_stre.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/2/111537/253

Everyone’s got the Ted Haggard story: another mega-church pseudo-christian snakeoil salesman (and Bush spiritual advisor), tripped up by his own hypocrisy. But here’s the politics of it

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116256269232369982

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/3/74641/3861

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/11/03/haggard_scandal_may_threaten_evangelical_turnout.html
[Taegan Goddard] Don't underestimate the political impact of this story as it may discourage Christian evangelicals from voting next week.

Last-day trends helping the Dems

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/3/95413/9842

But what about that November 5 Hussein verdict?

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-are-democrats-doing-about.html
[Glenn Greenwald] [T]he Bush administration, in one of the most shamelessly manipulative acts one can fathom, has ensured that the show trial of Saddam Hussein is scheduled to end with a guilty verdict and likely death sentence on November 5 -- two days before the election. They are now openly acknowledging that they think this event should and will influence the outcome of our election.

There is no question that the media will cover this story intensely -- they love singular, dramatic events; they love courtroom dramas; and it is not every day that a dictator who ruled for three decades is sentenced to death. While one can question how much Americans will care about this event, it is inevitable that it will dominate the news right before the election, with almost no time for Democrats to have their views about it heard. . .

Voter ID: another vote suppression strategy in sheep’s clothing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201897.html

Ugh

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061103/1a_lede03.art.htm
As the battle for control of Congress enters its final weekend, election experts warn that the number of voters forced to cast provisional ballots Tuesday because of eligibility questions could delay some results in tight races for days or weeks.

New statewide voter databases, strict ID requirements and other factors may increase the percentage of voters whose paper ballots must be reviewed by local officials.

Provisional ballots are often used when a voter is not listed as registered, shows up at the wrong precinct, lacks required identification, has moved recently but returns to his or her old polling place, or is listed by a slightly different name in state databases.

The ballots are delivered in envelopes to elections officials, who must rule after Election Day on the voters' eligibility before counting or discarding them. “I think we're going to see a lot more provisionals than we've seen before,” says Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services. “For a poll worker, a provisional is the easy way out.” . . .

Winning Dems: be careful what you ask for

http://billmon.org/archives/002922.html
[Billmon] I should be jumping for joy over these predictions, if only because I hate the bloody Republicans and the bloody conservatives so bloody much. But instead I'm filled with foreboding. If the Dems are going to win this year it's better, I suppose, that they win big -- big enough to discourage the reptiles from playing any post-election games, big enough to be billed as a mandate for change, big enough to wipe the smirk of Karl Rove's face forever. But it should be understood that even a crushing loss next week will only wound the GOP machine, not kill it, and a wounded, cornered animal can be very dangerous. . .

Bonus item: Katherine Harris at the "Broward County Young Republican Club Meeting" (really!)

http://www.first-draft.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7692

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 9:24 AM

 
HELP WANTED

Help me out here: John Kerry makes a bad joke, and for 48 hours is excoriated for disrespecting our troops. He apologizes, and is still criticized for not apologizing. Meanwhile, the Vice President says he thinks waterboarding is a “no-brainer,” which assures that our captured troops will be subject to waterboarding. The Majority Leader of the House says that the failure of the war isn’t a result of bad policy in Washington, but bad decisions by our generals. The President subverts a search for a missing American soldier to placate Iraqi sensibilities. But it’s Kerry who is harming and disrespecting our troops. WHAT?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010715
[Greg Sargent] John Kerry says "I'm sorry."

Tony Snow says Kerry still hasn't said "I'm sorry."

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/nov/01/tony_snow_video
[Greg Sargent] If there's one relic that should go into the time capsule so future generations can marvel at the depths of absurdity and self-parody the GOP plumbed during this election, it may be this video of today's press briefing with Tony Snow. In it, Snow demands over and over that Kerry "apologize" for his botched Iraq joke, saying again and again that Kerry hasn't said "I'm sorry," even though Kerry did just that earlier today. Snow then actually says he's suggesting Kerry apologize in order to help him. Snow: "This is helpful advice! We're trying to help you out! We're throwing you a lifeline, buddy! Just say you're sorry! It's not hard!" To which a reporter replies: "Have you thought about sending Senator Kerry a gift basket?"

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7680
Q But basically, when you cited the Vice President before as an example, what he said last week about a dunk in the water, some human rights groups interpret that to mean, the Vice President -- they interpret it that the Vice President was condoning water boarding and that he was condoning torture. The Vice President came out, spoke to reporters, and said, that's absolutely not what I meant. He never apologized to anyone if they took it wrong, or anything like that. And you basically said, look, people took it the wrong way, he did not condone that. John Kerry is now saying, that's not what I meant. Why won't you take him at his word, like you wanted the Vice President. . .

MR. SNOW: I'll tell you what I did, is I actually took the Vice President at his word

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/1/211124/215
House Majority Leader John Boehner: Wolf, I understand that, but let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld.

Wolf Blitzer: But he's in charge of the military.

Boehner: But the fact is the generals on the ground are in charge. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010730
[Josh Marshall] It's bad enough Boehner wants to place blame on the soldiers in the field. But Boehner has a very short memory. Remember, the whole Rummy cult that held Washington in its thrall only a few years ago was based on the idea that he didn't just take the stodgy generals' word for it. Their ideas were outmoded. And the men were stuck in their ways. It took Rummy to knock their heads together and tell them what was what.

So really, Rumsfeld is probably a lot more responsible for this disaster than almost any other Sec Def has been for anything else, because he's insisted on such a level of micromanagement and such a complete disregard for the professional advice of his generals.

Dean on Boehner: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/dean-to-boehner-apologize.html
Today during an interview on CNN, House Republican Leader John Boehner blamed the military for the problems with the Bush Administration’s failed Iraq policies. . . Our brave troops deserve better from Republican leaders like Don Rumsfeld, John Boehner and Dick Cheney.

Boehner’s “defense”: http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/11/did_boehner_mak.html
“Democrats are quickly squandering any and all credibility by even attempting to equate Mr. Boehner’s comments with criticism of anyone in the military. It’s an obvious and weak attempt to deflect criticism from Senator Kerry’s awful remarks delivered earlier this week, remarks Mr. Boehner was highly critical of. Mr. Boehner commends our military and our generals for doing a heroic job each and every day in their fight against terrorists in Iraq and around the globe. He thanks them every day for their bravery and will continue to do so.”

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/hey-media-can-one-of-you-ask-bush-or.html
[Joe] Hey Media: Can one of you ask Bush -- or any Republican -- why they let Al-Sadr stop the US from searching for the missing US soldier? . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/2/61232/4076
[Ralph Peters] On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki obeyed Muqtada al-Sadr's command to withdraw U.S. troops from Baghdad's Sadr City. He halted a vital U.S. military operation. It was the third time in less than a month that al-Maliki had sided with the anti-American cleric against our forces. President Bush insists that we have no conflicts with the al-Maliki government. The president isn't telling the truth -- or he himself doesn't support our military's efforts. . .

Jack Cafferty (ka-pow!) http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/cnns-jack-cafferty-its-disgrace-that.html

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8931.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8933.html
[Steve Benen] I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why the John Kerry flap is bothering me so much.

Perhaps it's the unjustified media attention. The fact that Kerry missed a word in a joke and subsequently apologized has, for no apparent reason, rocked the political world and is generating near-blanket coverage on the news networks. Some media personalities are condemning Kerry, even after they learned that he simply misspoke. Others are blasting Kerry for failing to apologize, even after he'd already apologized.

Perhaps it's the wholesale lack of perspective. Kerry, a decorated war hero, is not only being smeared (again) as anti-military, but far more important news stories are being blown off entirely . . .

Or perhaps it's because the "controversy" has led RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman to send out emails like this one.

Listen closely this election season and you'll hear the truth about what Democrats represent.

Monday, failed Presidential candidate John Kerry brazenly insulted the brave American men and women serving in our military. . . In Kerry's cocoon of privilege, those who serve in our military are failures who never did their homework or "made an effort to be smart." … John Kerry is dead wrong. Our troops who put their lives on the line represent the very best of America.

"Cocoon of privilege." The RNC is playing class warfare now? . . . . I suppose it's to be expected from a dishonest, dishonorable hack like Ken Mehlman, but how on earth can anyone other than Fox News buy into such transparent nonsense? Honestly, what is more insulting to the troops today, a word missing in Kerry's joke about the president or leaving a U.S. serviceman behind for the Mahdi Army in Iraq?

Who are they to criticize? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/1/64317/1169

Finally: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010726
[Josh Marshall] Where's the outrage, indeed. Kerry flubs a dumb joke, CNN goes wall-to-wall for two days straight. President Bush says a vote for Democrats is a vote for the terrorists, CNN (and the rest of the biggs) gives it a big yawn.

The NYT at its best

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/opinion/02thu1.html
The Great Divider
As President Bush throws himself into the final days of a particularly nasty campaign season, he’s settled into a familiar pattern of ugly behavior. Since he can’t defend the real world created by his policies and his decisions, Mr. Bush is inventing a fantasy world in which to campaign on phony issues against fake enemies.

In Mr. Bush’s world, America is making real progress in Iraq. In the real world, as Michael Gordon reported in yesterday’s Times, the index that generals use to track developments shows an inexorable slide toward chaos. In Mr. Bush’s world, his administration is marching arm in arm with Iraqi officials committed to democracy and to staving off civil war. In the real world, the prime minister of Iraq orders the removal of American checkpoints in Baghdad and abets the sectarian militias that are slicing and dicing their country.

In Mr. Bush’s world, there are only two kinds of Americans: those who are against terrorism, and those who somehow are all right with it. Some Americans want to win in Iraq and some don’t. There are Americans who support the troops and Americans who don’t support the troops. And at the root of it all is the hideously damaging fantasy that there is a gulf between Americans who love their country and those who question his leadership.

Mr. Bush has been pushing these divisive themes all over the nation, offering up the ludicrous notion the other day that if Democrats manage to control even one house of Congress, America will lose and the terrorists will win. . . .[read on!]

Bush’s weird, truly weird, interview with Rush Limbaugh

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/009960.php
Give me a second here, Rush, because I want to share something with you. I am deeply concerned about a country, the United States, leaving the Middle East. I am worried that rival forms of extremists will battle for power, obviously creating incredible damage if they do so; that they will topple modern governments, that they will be in a position to use oil as a tool to blackmail the West. People say, "What do you mean by that?" I say, "If they control oil resources, then they pull oil off the market in order to run the price up, and they will do so unless we abandon Israel, for example, or unless we abandon allies. . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116243879757506885
[Digby] Huh? So he's saying that oil prices will go up unless we abandon Israel and our allies? What the hell is he saying?

I have to give the Republicans credit, I really do. The head of their party, the president of the United States, the leader of the free world is almost virtually unintelligible when he speaks, he insults people, creates international incidents and when not making gaffe after gaffe, is almost entirely incoherent. Yet they just got away with two days of wall-to-wall pearl clutching and hanky wringing over an irrelevant Democrats' blown punchline.

They may not be able to keep their majority after this disasterous experiment in Tinkerbell governance, but they continue to impress with their gigantic brass... impudence. Gentlemen, I salute you.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116243571219188265
[Digby] Now this is funny...

Said Bush, in an interview with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh: "Anybody who is in a position to serve this country ought to understand the consequences of words. ...

He knows whereof he speaks:

President Bush said Wednesday that American troops under fire in Iraq aren't about to pull out, and he challenged those tempted to attack U.S. forces, "Bring them on."

The Goofus Files

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_atrios_archive.html#116244462514076458
HANNITY: How important is getting Usama bin Laden in the war on terror?

BUSH: Well, it's important, and that's why we're after him every single day. But so is getting Zawahiri important, and so is getting the number-three guy, whoever he is when they pop up. You know, we've got this guy, Zarqawi.

When it looks like “stay the course,” sounds like “stay the course,” and has the same effect as “stay the course,” what difference does it make what words you use?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/11/01/bush/index.html
George W. Bush may not want to talk about "staying the course" in Iraq anymore, but he's not exactly throwing the tiller in a different direction, either. In an interview with wire service reporters today, Bush said that Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are both doing "fantastic jobs" and that he wants them to remain on duty through the rest of his second term.

The president said that he doesn't foresee any immediate change in troop levels in Iraq . . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/11/01/BL2006110101824.html

CNN – you should be ashamed of yourselves

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010714
CNN's Heidi Collins suggests the Allen campaign's attack on Mike Stark may have been justified because they thought he was a terrorist on the reasoning that he might have had a bomb in his backpack. . .

Yes, we HAVE noticed

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8932.html
[Steve Benen] It's no doubt just a coincidence, but am I the only one who's noticed that House Republicans have had an awful year with regards to violence against women?

In New York: Rep. John Sweeney . . .

In Pennsylvania: Rep. Don Sherwood. . .

And in Nevada: Rep. Jim Gibbons. . .

The article I’ve been waiting for (why did it take so long?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103146.html
Indictments, investigations and allegations of wrongdoing have helped put at least 15 Republican House seats in jeopardy, enough to swing control to the Democrats on Tuesday even before the larger issues of war, economic unease and President Bush are invoked.

With just five days left before Election Day, allegations are springing up like brushfires. . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/2/72418/8262

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010734
[Josh Marshall] Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), one of the more bizarre and execrable specimens housed in the House GOP menagerie, is, you know, the subject of a very serious federal corruption and bribery investigation. And now he's gone on the air with ad, the message of which appears to be: vote Weldon, because it's really not clear yet that he's a crook.

This election is simple: people want change. And they know the kinds of changes Democrats will bring

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/final-nytcbs-poll-before-election.html

Mega-analysis of the polls by Ruy Teixeira

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/showdown06/archives/individual/2006_11/009950.php

It’s a good sign when Rove starts spinning “it’s not my fault”

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/1/205741/311

The poison of Republican politics

http://www.slate.com/id/2152671/fr/rss/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110102994.html
Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) always sounds so polite and sincere, even when he's wrapping his hands around his opponent's throat. . .

They’re STILL having trouble with voting machines in Florida

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/31/florida_terminals_dont_cooperate/
Florida voters using electronic ballot machines are having persistent problems choosing Democrats in early elections, the Miami Herald reports.

The touch-screen gizmos seem strangely attracted to Republican candidates. One voter needed assistance from an election official, and even then, needed three tries to convince the machine that he wanted to vote for Democrat Jim Davis in the gubernatorial race, not his Republican opponent Charlie Crist.

Another voter who went Democrat across the board kept finding Republicans listed in the summary screen. . . Yet another frustrated voter who complained of difficulties selecting a Democrat was told that the machine she was using had been troublesome. Poll workers fiddled with it for a bit, and then it seemed to work properly.

Apparently, this happens all the time. . .

Ann Coulter, professional harpie, runs into serious legal trouble

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003346999
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday.

Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. . .

Bonus item: Tony Snow clearly cares nothing about his own credibility

http://susiemadrak.com/2006/11/01/08/57/snow-job/
Tony Snow speaking on C-SPAN this morning about Bush: “When I’m in meetings with him, he’s the smartest guy in the room.”

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:46 AM

 
PEACE, OR CHAOS?

Oh-oh

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html
A classified briefing prepared two weeks ago by the United States Central Command portrays Iraq as edging toward chaos, in a chart that the military is using as a barometer of civil conflict. . .

Who’s in charge here? The U.S. military orders a blockade of Sadr City in their search for a kidnapped soldier. Iraq says, cut it out – and they just pick up and leave?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/10/iraqi-prime-minister-al-maliki-demands.html
[AP] Exploiting GOP vulnerability in the Nov. 7 elections, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flexed his political muscle Tuesday and won U.S. agreement to lift military blockades on Sadr City and another Shiite enclave where an American soldier was abducted.

U.S. forces, who had set up the checkpoints in Baghdad last week as part of an unsuccessful search for the soldier, drove away in Humvees and armored personnel carriers at the 5 p.m. deadline set by al-Maliki. Iraqi troops, who had manned the checkpoints with the Americans, loaded coils of razor wire and red traffic cones onto pickup trucks.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/010693.php
[Josh Marshall] I'm curious why more isn't being made of this. . . [T]hat cordon was in place to help find the recently abducted US soldier. So it sounds a lot like on Maliki's say-so we've essentially called off the search. Is President Bush being asked about this?

Dissed! http://www.prospect.org/weblog/2006/10/post_1820.html

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3523
[WP] The checkpoints, which have been imposed on other neighborhoods as well, created hours-long traffic jams in Sadr City, with angry Iraqi drivers asking why the city is being so disrupted for one missing American soldier, when dozens of Iraqi citizens are killed and kidnapped in the capital every day.

[Swopa] Yeah, I can see how that last point would be difficult for the Americans to answer very effectively.

Yep

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/10/31/BL2006103100629.html
[Dan Froomkin] Desperate Times
With just a week left before mid-term elections that could effectively reduce him to a lame duck, President Bush is waging a fear-and-smear campaign against Democrats.

Bush's political rallies are carefully constructed artifacts. The White House meticulously controls access, manipulates imagery and selects locales where the Republican candidates are actually happy to see the deeply unpopular president.

But Bush and his aides know that his red-meat rhetoric will fire up his base. And they are appropriately confident that the press coverage will faithfully convey his message -- without too much context or fact-checking. . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8915.html
[Steve Benen] [T]he LAT's Ron Brownstein noted the other day that there really is no precedent for this kind of partisan war rhetoric. Indeed, when it comes to politicizing a war for an election, Bush is in a league of his own.

As Brownstein put it, for a sitting president to tag his rivals "as the party of 'defeat' is nonetheless extraordinary language for a commander in chief to use in a political campaign." . . .

I think it's probably worth remembering that the political discourse doesn't have to be this way … and before Bush, it wasn't this way. When the president swore to "change the tone," he apparently meant it.

Traitors! Quitters!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_10/009937.php
The LA Times reports that high-ranking military officers are warming up to the idea of deadlines and timetable in Iraq. . . [read on]

Chaos among the Republicans

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/us/politics/01elect.html
Republican Congressional candidates, following the advice of party strategists, were stepping up their efforts to distance themselves from the White House on the war as the campaign enters its final days.

“President Bush isn’t getting our frustrations — it’s time to be decisive, beat the terrorists,” Mike McGavick, the Republican candidate for Senate in Washington, said in an advertisement that began running this week. “Partition the country if we have to and get our troops home in victory.”

In Rhode Island on Tuesday, Senator Lincoln Chafee, a Republican struggling against a challenge from Sheldon Whitehouse, an antiwar Democrat. . . indicated he would be willing to call on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to step down . . .

In New Jersey, Thomas H. Kean Jr., the Republican challenging Senator Robert Menendez, has started a new advertisement that says he wants to “change the course in Iraq; Replace Rumsfeld.” In Indiana, John Hostettler, a Republican congressman, reminds voters in his latest advertisement that he voted against the invasion of Iraq because “the intelligence did not support the claim that there were weapons of mass destruction there.

OK, I think it was dumb for John Kerry to say, even as a joke, "You know, education — if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." This has given the Republicans an excuse for their patented faux outrage – he’s dissing the troops, etc. The only good thing about it is that it gave Kerry a chance for a really terrific comeback

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/31/173116/88
"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq . It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war . . . These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. And this time it won't work . . ."

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8922.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010700

What IS it with these guys?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010702
[Albany Times Union] The wife of U.S. Rep. John Sweeney called police last December to complain her husband was ``knocking her around'' during a late-night argument at the couple's home. . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010706

George “Spitter” Allen (R-VA) becomes George “The Thug” Allen

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/31/14329/949
[NBC] As Senator Allen was exiting a ballroom, coming to talk to the media, a protestor started yelling and asking, "Why did you spit on your first wife?". He wasn't able to get near the senator as he was tackled by three men wearing Allen stickers, presumed to be staffers. He was pushed and manhandled and ended up on the floor, near windows at the Omni.

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/oct/31/va_sen_allen_tackle_victim_speaks
[Greg Sargent] So I just got hold of Mike Stark, the fellow who was thrown to the ground by GOP Senator George Allen's staffers because he posed a difficult question or two to their boss. . . Stark appears to be taking this to the proper authorities. . . he wrote that he was on his way to "go press charges."

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010690

Video: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/43723/

[NB: News stories call him a “heckler” and a “protestor.” The video makes it clear that they grabbed him and had him in a head-hold before he even said a single word to Allen]

Amerika

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010701
[BR] So now, according to Bush, anyone who votes for a Democrat is voting for the terrorists. And law-abiding citizens get manhandled or arrested for questioning officials at public events—or addressing Dick Cheney in a Colorado mall. This isn’t the country I know and love. It’s gone to a very dark place. . .

Remember when people used to get upset about things like this?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/31/11121/540
[Salon] At least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show. . . [read on]

There are lies, audacious lies, and then there is just complete and utter bullsh-t

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8919.html
House Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters that "contrary to stereotype," President Bush has been "actively engaged in trying to fight climate change." . . .

The Goofus Files

http://www.first-draft.com//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7663
Well, I think this: I think that if you don't think we're in a war that you can't win the war. . . .[read on!]

George Bush rewards Rush Limbaugh with an exclusive interview - think these right-wing talk shows aren’t an extension of the White House communications strategy?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116236035132459443

More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-24-talk-radio_x.htm

http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/2006/10/toady-tent.html

John Cole, everyone’s favorite Republican

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/1/23519/7972
I still think of myself as a Republican- but I think the whole party has been hijacked by frauds and religionists and crooks and liars and corporate shills, and it frustrates me to no end to see my former friends enabling them, and I wonder 'Why can't they see what I see?" I don't think I am crazy, I don't think my beliefs have changed radically, and I don't think I have been (as suggested by others) brainwashed by my commentariat.

I hate getting up in the morning, surfing the news, and finding more and more evidence that my party is nothing but a bunch of frauds. . . [read on]

More House races the Republicans are conceding

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/31/20557/658

We’ve covered the House and Senate – here are current trends in the Governor races

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/10/31/163849/00

What – a – massive – f-ckup

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001143.html
A record 166,000 Maryland voters had requested absentee ballots as of yesterday, spurred in part by suggestions from the governor and other state officials to abandon electronic voting for the security of a paper ballot. . .

The crush of demand for absentee ballots has left local election officials overwhelmed and worried that late delivery of them will make it difficult for everyone to vote.

"The Democratic and Republican politicians are telling them that they should not trust the voting system," said Barbara L. Fisher, elections director for Anne Arundel County. "The whole scenario is ridiculous." . . .

Joe Lieberman (R?-CT), more and more like a Republican all the time

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/10/31/9623/8668

Katherine Harris (R-Disneyworld), on the brink of a humiliating defeat, is writing her memoirs – and they sound bitchy!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15490609/
Katherine Harris, who is trying to become a U.S. senator, says she is writing a tell-all about the many people who have wronged her. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to: the Republican leaders who didn't want her to run, the press that has covered her troubled campaign, and the many staffers who have quit her employ, whom she accuses of colluding with her opponent.

She is vague about what, precisely, makes her a victim, but she says she has it all documented.

"I've been writing it all year," she says in that kittenish voice. She often smiles and cocks her head as if she's letting you in on a secret. "It's going to be a great book." . . .

[NB: Maybe she can tell us what happened in Florida in 2000 – now, THAT would be a great book]

Theocracy watch

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116229565575903871
[Tristero] The movement to establish an American theocracy is serious, relentless, and very, very dangerous. . . . [read on]

Is Air America, the main progressive alternative to right-wing talk radio, being blacklisted by corporate sponsors?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310008

CNN isn’t just using the Republican-approved mislocution “Democrat Party” – they’re RE-writing other agencies’ news stories to conform with their style

http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310020

Quick: you’re teaching Journalism 101, and a freshman student submits an article with this line. What do you say?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_10/009939.php
The New York Times' Jennifer Steinhauer says that Nancy Pelosi has "emerged as a searing symbol of the country's deep partisan divide." . . . .

Bonus item: Doh!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_29.php#010688
[Paul Kiel] Oops. John McCain shows up at to campaign with Tammy Duckworth's [Republican] opponent, fresh from a visit to Walter Reed, the nearby hospital where Duckworth, a double amputee, was treated, and proceeds to praise the "brave young [soldiers] who have served and sacrificed so much. . . . Many of them have lost limbs, as you know."

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:13 AM